This article discusses several questions concentrating on the translator's contract and the rights and duties arising from the contract from a juridical point of view and especially focussing on the relationship between the translation and the original and the often controversial quality of translations. Finally, the problem of translation changes on behalf of the commissioner is discussed as well as the translator's right to mention her or his name. This article shows that the emphasis on the specific characteristics of a translation as an intellectual production results in the unrestricted authorship of translators. As a consequence, translators are not second class authors, but can claim full copyright protection.