Article 21 of the Spanish Intellectual Property Law, Real Decreto Legislativo
1/1996, April 12, does not only established the derivative right of the protected works, but it enables the participation of the original author as a right holder of the derivative works made by another author with his consent; by giving a privilege to authorize any further use of the resultant work. Such reinterpretation of what the civil law doctrine, regarding intellectual property, has understood as the derivative right, comes from the implementation of the European Directive of protected databases. This article pretends to show the broadening rights of the right holders over derivative works in the Spanish law.