Revised 12 October 2026. This guide provides general information and does not constitute legal advice. If you find an error, please write to me.
An exhibition in a cultural centre, a school website, a competition or a workshop report may bring together works created by minors. This guide is for those who organise such activities and need to separate decisions that a generic family authorisation often conflates.
If the publication displays the face or recognisable image of a person, please also consult the guide on portraiture and personal image in the Guides section. Here, the primary object is the work created.
1. Age does not erase authorship
Intellectual Property Law considers the natural person who creates a work to be the author. Minority does not attribute this authorship to the teacher, the institution or the family.
This presupposes that the result may be a protected work, that is, an original creation expressed in a medium. Not every exercise, instruction or mechanical result necessarily meets this condition. When it does, the minor is its author.
2. Separate work, medium, name and image
- Work: drawing, video, music, text, software or other creation.
- Medium: sheet, canvas, device or file containing it.
- Identity: name, age, year group, school and other associated data.
- Personal image: photograph, video or identifiable voice of the participant.
Being the owner of the medium is not equivalent to possessing the exploitation rights. Authorising the publication of a work does not automatically authorise the publication of the face of the person who created it.
3. Define each use
Displaying a work within the classroom is not the same as exhibiting it in an open gallery, publishing it on the web, disseminating it on social media, incorporating it into a catalogue, submitting it to a competition, selling the original or keeping it in a public archive.
Authorisation must describe understandable uses. Avoid unlimited formulas when the activity does not require them.
4. Authorising is not assigning everything
The assignment of exploitation rights must be formalised in writing and define rights, modalities, time and territory. A specific authorisation may permit a particular exhibition or publication without generally transmitting future exploitation.
For minors, the capacity to act requires examining representation and circumstances. Article 44 of the Intellectual Property Law recognises full capacity to assign rights to authors over sixteen and under eighteen who live independently with the consent of their parents or guardians or with authorisation from the responsible person or institution. This is not a rule applicable to all adolescents of that age.
5. Personal data and copyright are distinct planes
Article 7 of Organic Law 3/2018 allows certain data processing to be based on the consent of a minor over fourteen years of age, except for legal exceptions. This does not in itself grant them the capacity for any assignment of rights or contract.
Furthermore, not all processing must be based on consent. The controller must identify its legal basis and provide clear information regarding purpose, recipients, duration and the exercise of rights.
6. Deciding the credit
Agree on whether the full name, initials, pseudonym or anonymity will appear. The decision must consider recognition of authorship and data protection. Do not convert "minor" into a substitute credit when it is possible to recognise authorship through an agreed formula.
The credit does not replace the authorisation nor does it convert an unauthorised use into a lawful one.
7. Web, social media and press materials
Publishing on a website controlled by the organisation is not equivalent to disseminating on a social network. The audience, permanence, possibility of copying and terms of service differ.
Furthermore, separate the work from the activity record. A gallery photograph may show works and participants; it may require different decisions from those necessary to publish each work in isolation.
8. Competitions and prizes
Read the terms and conditions before submitting the work. They must clarify who may participate, what documentation is required, which rights are requested, for how long and what happens to originals and files.
A prize does not in itself transmit all rights. Transmission depends on the accepted terms and the documents signed by those authorised to do so.
9. Sale and delivery
Selling the physical medium does not automatically transmit exploitation rights. The transaction must separate price, ownership of the copy, reproduction, publication and delivery of files.
If there is remuneration or a broad assignment, individualised professional advice is advisable. The civil rules applicable to the administration of a minor's assets must also be reviewed.
10. Archive, duration and removal
Define what the organisation retains, for what purpose, who accesses it and for how long. Distinguish between internal archive, public record and promotional communication.
Do not promise an absolute removal from the entire digital environment if you cannot guarantee it. You must establish a channel to request it and explain which copies, obligations or publications may legitimately remain.
11. If artificial intelligence is involved
Document which materials were introduced, whether they included third-party data or images and what part of the result corresponds to the participant and the system. Do not presuppose protected authorship for any generated output.
The guide How to declare the use of AI in a work or project helps to separate public declaration and file. The guide How to organise a digital creation workshop with minors addresses the choice of tools and accounts.
12. Checklist
- Creator and work identified.
- Medium, authorship, data and image separated.
- Uses and channels listed.
- Legal basis for data identified.
- Authorisation or assignment delimited and signed by the appropriate party.
- Credit agreed.
- Competition, sale and publication reviewed separately.
- Retention period and removal channel defined.
- Copy of authorisations, versions and materials retained.