Applicability

The law applies to works authored or co-authored by a citizen of Monaco, and to all works first published in Monaco.^{[491/1948 Art.34]} Other works are protected as defined by international conventions. Applied art works are protected in Monaco to the same extent that they are protected in their country of origin.^{[491/1948 Art.34]} Authors have rights in all literary and artistic works that they create with no requirement for any formality.^{[491/1948 Art.1]} The rights of the author may be transferred in whole or part by gift, sale or inheritance, with some limitations on inheritance.^{[491/1948 Art.14]}

Works protected by copyright include all literary, scientific and artistic productions, whatever their mode or form of expression, such as books, pamphlets and other writings; lectures, addresses, sermons and similar works; dramatic or dramatico-musical works; choreographic works and pantomimes whose staging is fixed in writing or otherwise; musical compositions with or without words; cinematographic works and those obtained by a process analogous to cinematography; works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography; photographic works and those obtained by a process analogous to photography; works of applied arts; illustrations, maps, plans, sketches and plastic works relating to geography, topography, architecture or science.^{[491/1948 Art.2]}

Durations

Under Loi n. 491 du 24/11/1948,

• The author has the sole right to publish, reproduce or otherwise disclose their work, and has the exclusive right to authorise any translation, arrangement or adaptation of their work.^{[491/1948 Art.3-4]}

• The author of a translation, arrangement or adaptation has rights to their work without prejudice to the rights of the author of the original work.^{[491/1948 Art.5]}
• For individual works, copyright lasts 50 years after the author's death.^{[491/1948 Art.12]}

• For posthumous works, copyright lasts 50 years after publication.^{[491/1948 Art.12]}
• A collaborative work is the common property of the authors, but when it is not an indivisible whole each of the co-authors has the right to exploit their personal contribution separately.^{[491/1948 Art.7]} For collaborative works, copyright lasts 50 years after the death of the last surviving author.^{[491/1948 Art.12]}

• The publisher of an anonymous or pseudonymous work is treated as the author. However, if the identity of the author is established, the author or their successors obtain the copyright.^{[491/1948 Art.13]}

In the above definitions, "50 years after [event]" means "up to the end of the 50th year after the year in which [event] happened."

Not protected