[missjellyfish]

I was simplyfying. What I described is unified in the European Union; however, the outlined distinction is common across the roman-germanic law system whereas the US copyright interpretation is rooted in common law. In Europe, the only countries using common law are UK and Ireland. And while Ireland has mostly unified their copyright law with the rest of the european union, you still see some roots in common law. For example, it is possible that an irish company (a legal person) can become an author of a work, which is impossible under e.g. german law.

And yes: in a common law system, copyright governs literally "the right to copy", which is transferable. In other law systems (which is the distinction I made) the law governs the property rights of the author's expression, which is non-transferrable, you can only license the rights you have.