Авторское право принадлежит правообладателю.

to belong to

Breakdown of Авторское право принадлежит правообладателю.

• авторское право: the copyright
• правообладатель: the rights holder; copyright owner

Questions & Answers about Авторское право принадлежит правообладателю.

Why does авторское end in -ое?

Because it has to agree with право.

In Russian, adjectives change their endings to match the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here, право is:

• neuter
• singular
• nominative

So the adjective also takes the neuter singular nominative ending:

• авторский — masculine dictionary form
• авторское — neuter form

So:

• авторское право = copyright

This is a fixed legal expression in Russian.

What case is правообладателю, and why is it in that case?

Правообладателю is in the dative case.

That is because the verb принадлежать means to belong to, and in Russian the person or thing something belongs to is normally put in the dative.

So the structure is:

• что принадлежит кому
• what belongs to whom

In this sentence:

• авторское право = the thing that belongs
• правообладателю = the person/entity it belongs to

Compare:

• Книга принадлежит студенту. = The book belongs to the student.
• Дом принадлежит семье. = The house belongs to the family.

So правообладателю means to the right holder / copyright holder.

Why is the verb принадлежит singular?