(The Interpretation and Control of the Safeguarding Agreement) The interpretation and contextual control of copyright safeguarding agreements play a substantial role in court practice. That's why for one thing disputes between authorized parties and copyright collecting companies can evolve. And for another thing, interpretation and control also play an important role for the users of protected works or ancillary copyrights, since they require clarity as to whether they must acquire the necessary rights from the copyright collecting company or the authorized parties themselves. The author investigates the interpretation rules of copyright and the law of contract as well as the control circumstances of the copyright law, the copyright safeguarding law, the civil code (AGB [general terms & conditions] control), the law against restraints of competition as well EC antitrust (cartel) law. Informed through a legal practice on the one hand, and on the other hand on the basis of his scholastic works in the realm of German and European law of contract, commercial law and copyright, the author develops a system in which the different circumstances of interpretation and control merge into an orderly whole. The dogmatic of prevailing law is in the foreground. Moreover, the author also discusses legal policy issues in view of the national law and the Community law. They are now of great relevance to the present, because the Commission of the European Community has announced the establishment of a European safeguarding right with their notification for "Safeguarding of copyrights and related protective rights in the internal market" from April 16th, 2004.