A novelist in Basel finishes a book in German. Two years later a translator in Lausanne turns it into French. The French edition sells. A film company calls. Then a question comes up: who holds the rights in the French text?
The short answer is both of them, in different things.
A translation is a work of its own
A translation is a new work, and the translator holds its copyright.
Article 3 of the Swiss Copyright Act covers derivative works, meaning works built on other works. Paragraph 1 defines them as "intellectual creations with individual character that are based upon pre-existing works, whereby the individual character of the latter remains identifiable". Paragraph 2 adds: "translations as well as audio-visual and other adaptations".
Paragraph 3 matters most: "Derivative works are protected as works in their own right." Under Article 6 the author is "the natural person who has created the work". So the translator holds the copyright in the French text, with the right to be named as its author under Article 9 paragraph 1. The Berne Convention says the same in Article 2(3): translations are protected as original works, and the copyright in the original stays as it is.
The original author keeps their say
The novelist keeps every right in the German book, including the say over translations.
Paragraph 4 of Article 3 reads: "The protection of the works used in the derivative work remains reserved."
Article 11 paragraph 1 gives the author "the exclusive right to decide: a. whether, when and how the work may be altered; b. whether, when and how the work may be used to create a derivative work or may be included in a collected work." Berne Article 8 gives authors the sole right to make or allow translations of their works. Berne Article 12 does the same for adaptations and other changes. Even with permission, paragraph 2 lets the author oppose any distortion that violates his personal rights.
Nobody registers any of this
No form is needed, and the name on the title page counts until someone proves otherwise.
Berne Article 5(2) says "the enjoyment and the exercise of these rights shall not be subject to any formality". The convention has 182 member countries as of October 2026 (re-checked on the WIPO Lex treaty page, 15 October 2026).
Under Article 8 paragraph 1, "unless proven otherwise, the author is the person whose name, pseudonym or distinctive sign appears on the copies or the publication of the work". A name on a title page is presumed right until someone proves otherwise.
Three records worth keeping
Keep dated copies of the original and the translation, plus the permission itself.
Three dated documents settle most arguments:
- The original, as it stood when the author finished it.
- The translation, as it stood when the translator finished it.
- The permission: the letter, contract or email in which the author allowed the translation. Without it, the translator holds a work they may not use.
On Swiss Trust Layer each one can be sealed as its own file, or as separate versions of one folder. Only a cryptographic fingerprint of the file, never the file, goes to Swisscom Trust Services, the qualified trust service provider. It signs that fingerprint with a timestamp under RFC 3161. Each sealed version gets a certificate of proof. It lists every file, its hash and the sealing time in UTC (what happens when you seal a file).
"Rights claimed" states what the person sealing claims in the file. "Other rights holders" names who else holds rights in it. A translator seals the French text, claims the rights in the translation, and names the novelist as holder of the rights in the original. That is Article 3 paragraphs 3 and 4 written onto one page, with a date. The author seals the manuscript the same way, and either can seal the permission.
Anyone can check a sealed PDF at swisstrustlayer.com/validate, with no account. It shows who signed, when, and whether the content changed since. The QR code on the certificate opens a public page showing the account holder's name, the file names and the hashes. So file names should carry the work's title, not personal details.
When a machine did the translating
If software helped translate, the translator can say so with a dated label.
The Swiss Copyright Registry lets the translator declare that. There are six content labels: HUMAN AUTHORED, HUMAN APPROVED, AI FREE, AI ASSISTED, AI MODIFIED and AI GENERATED. Each version of the content carries exactly one of the four AI labels. HUMAN AUTHORED can only be declared together with AI FREE. HUMAN APPROVED can go with any AI label, but must come from a different person than the author. Declaring labels needs a passport check first, and the two HUMAN labels are tied to that verified identity. Sealing itself does not.
The labels are a self-declaration, and the portal says they do not show whether the content is protected by copyright. Does an edited machine translation have the "individual character" Article 3 asks for? That is a question for the law, not the label. The label is a dated statement of method, locked once sealed (the six labels explained).
The limit, stated plainly
A seal dates a file but does not prove the translator had permission.
A seal shows who sealed which file, and when. A translator can seal a French text they were never allowed to make. The seal is still valid, because it is about the file, not the right to create it. The timestamp proves this exact file existed at that moment and has not changed since. It does not prove who wrote it, who owns the rights, or that a translation was authorised.
That is why the permission is the third record. Only it answers the question Article 11 and Berne Article 8 raise. The seal fixes what the permission said, and from which date. Whether it covers a film adaptation is for the contract to say, not the seal.
One step this week
Seal the permission you rely on most, with the translation it covers.
Translators: put that permission and the translation in one folder, as two files, and seal them. Fill in "Rights claimed" and "Other rights holders" honestly. If you are the original author, seal the manuscript before you hand it to anyone (how it works). Two people who wrote one work together are covered in joint authorship.
Seal your first document on Swiss Trust Layer and let the date speak before the argument starts.
