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Authors' rights are a part of Copyright law. The term is a direct translation of the French term ''droit d'auteur'' (also German ''Urheberrecht''), and is generally used in relation to the copyright laws of Civil Law countries and in European Union Law . Authors' rights are internationally protected by the Berne Convention For The Protection Of Literary And Artistic Works and by other similar treaties. "Author" is used in a very wide sense, and includes composers, artists, sculptors and even architects: in general, the author is the person whose creativity led to the protected work being created, although the exact definition varies from country to country. Authors' rights have two distinct components: the economic rights in the work and the Moral Rights of the author. The economic rights are a Property Right which is limited in time and which may be transferred by the author to other people in the same way as any other property (although many countries require that the transfer must be in the form of a written Contract ). They are intended to allow the author to profit financially from his or her creation, and include the right to authorize the reproduction of the work in any form (Art. 9, Berne Convention). The authors of Dramatic Works (plays, etc.) also have the right to authorize the public performance of their works (Art. 11, Berne Convention). The protection of the moral rights of an author is based on the view that a creative work is in some way an expression of the author's personality: the moral rights are therefore personal to the author, and cannot be transferred to another person except by Testament when the author dies. The moral rights regime differs greatly between countries, but typically includes the right to be identified as the author of the work and the right to object to any distortion or mutilation of the work which would be prjudicial to his or her honour or reputation (Art. 6bis, Berne Convention). In many countries, the moral rights of an author are perpetual. DISTINCTION BETWEEN COMMON LAW COPYRIGHT AND CIVIL LAW AUTHORS' RIGHTS It is common to draw a distinction in the treatment of authors and other interested parties between common law jurisdictions and civil law systems. Alhough there are certainly differences between national laws, the differences in effective protection should not be overstated. Both copyright and authors' rights arose in the Eighteenth Century to address identical problems: the inequality in relations between authors and publishers (and between publishers themselves) if Intellectual Property is not recognised and protected, and the need to provide an income for authors other than Patronage . Both systems provide for a Monopoly right granted to the author for a limited term which can be transferred to another person, which was initially the right to copy or otherwise reproduce the work (hence "copyright") but has since been expanded to take account of technological developments. It is an essential feature of authors' rights and of many copyright laws that the object which is protected must arise from the creativity of the author rather than from his or her simple effort or investment (see '' Feist V. Rural '' in the and German Copyright Law s protect "works of the spirit" (''oeuvres d'esprit''). This has led civil law systems to adopt a strong link between the rights (at least initially) and the person of the author: the initial ownership rights by a Corporation is severely restricted or even impossible (as in Germany ). Common law jurisdictions are more willing to accept corporate ownership of copyright, as in the U.S. Work For Hire principle. Although the following comparison is simplistic and dependent on the exact laws of individual countries, it is difficult to see an effective difference in the two situations:
Civil law systems have also been forceful in protecting the moral rights of authors, arguing that their creativity deserves protection as an integral part of their personality. The protection of the personality in common law jurisdiction has for long been separate from the law of copyright, embodied in such . The different protections of Industrial Design Rights cut across the divide between the two systems of law. USE IN EUROPEAN UNION LAW The term "authors' rights" is used in European Union Law to avoid ambiguity, in preference to the more usual translation of ''droit d'auteur'' etc. as "copyright". The equivalent term in United Kingdom and Irish Law is "copyright (subsisting) in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work": the term in Maltese and Cypriot Law is similar, except that dramatic works are treated as a subset of literary works. RELATED (OR NEIGHBOURING) RIGHTS Related Rights , often referred to as neighbouring rights as a more direct translation of the French ''droits voisins'', are property rights which are granted to people who are not the "author" of the work in the creative sense of the term. Typically these include performers, producers of phonograms (records, CDs, etc.), producers of films (as opposed to directors or scriptwriters) and broadcasting organisations. Related rights are generally more restricted than author's rights in Civil Law countries, although they may be equivalent in Common Law countries where both fall under the same concept of " Copyright ". They not directly covered by the Berne Convention, but are internationally protected by other treaties such as the Rome Convention . REFERENCES |
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