VGF is a collecting society authorised by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office in accordance with the terms of the Collecting Societies Act (Verwertungsgesellschaftengesetz).
In 1981, it was founded by film producers and film distributors with the aim of asserting the exploitation claims assigned to them and to film copyright holders by the Copyright Act (Urheberrechtsgesetz) and upholding the rights to which they are collectively entitled.
VGF acts primarily on behalf of film producers and directors, but it also represents the interests of all those whose rights derive from the producer of a film — like film distributors, film licence dealers, global distribution companies and so on. The term ‘film producer’ also of course includes a film’s co-producers. VGF does not, however, uphold rights connected with pre-existing works (like screenplays and music) or with commissioned productions for television.