Also known as “author’s rights” or droits moraux, these are the collection of rights that protect the integrity of the created work, the association of the author to that work, and the author’s reputation. Four moral rights are generally recognized: the droit de divulgation, or right of disclosure; the droit de repentir ou de retrait, or right to retract works previously published; the droit de paternite, or right of attribution of authorship; and the droit au respect de l’oeuvre, the right of integrity. Moral rights are key to many European copyright laws and a reduced set is required under the Berne Convention. Under French law these rights are perpetual and may not be waived. Under United States law a limited set of the moral rights are protected through the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 and a combination of case law findings.
Published in Chapter:
Copyright with an International Perspective for Academics
Stephen Marshall (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 16
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-198-8.ch069
Abstract
Copyright has emerged in the 21st century as one of the hot topics reported on regularly by media. Hardly a month goes by without discussion about the impact of the Internet, in particular, on the intellectual property rights of publishers and, by implication, the creators of content that they ostensibly represent. People who make digital copies of various types of media are cast as the new “pirates” of the digital frontier, often with quite extreme rhetoric: No black flags with skull and crossbones, no cutlasses, cannons, or daggers identify today’s pirates. You can’t see them coming; there’s no warning shot across your bow. Yet rest assured the pirates are out there because today there is plenty of gold (and platinum and diamonds) to be had. Today’s pirates operate not on the high seas but on the Internet, in illegal CD factories, distribution centers, and on the street. The pirate’s credo is still the same-why pay for it when it’s so easy to steal? The credo is as wrong as it ever was. Stealing is still illegal, unethical, and all too frequent in today’s digital age. (RIAA, 2003, p.1)