What Are Moral Rights? :: Laurence Kaye

Health Warning:These FAQs are not intended to be exhaustive and do not constitute or substitute legal advice, which should be sought on a case by case basis. Please treat the answers as general information, not legal gospel. Please remember that the law is constantly changing, so the answers are subject to change in the light of new legislation or case law. These FAQs are based on English law.

What are moral rights? The 'Moral Rights' provisions of The Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988 ("CDPA 88") were introduced in compliance with the UK’s obligations under the Berne Convention -see Article 6 of that Convention. References to section numbers below are to the relevant sections in the CDPA 88. There are four moral rights in CDPA 88: (i)

the right of paternity i.e. the right to be identified as the author or, in the case of a film, as director);

(ii)

the right of integrity(i.e. "the right to object to derogatory treatment" of a work e. g. a translation which "amounts to distortion or mutilation of the work or is otherwise prejudicial to the honour or reputation of the author or director;

(iii)

the right to prevent 'false attribution' of a work;

(iv)

the right to privacy in respect of certain films and photographs.

The right to paternity must be asserted in writing (Section 78). There are numerous exceptions to both the right of paternity and the right of integrity. The right of paternity does not apply to employee-created works, nor where the 'fair dealing' provisions apply nor to works written for publication in a newspaper, magazine etc. The right of integrity has similar (but not identical) exceptions -see sections 79 &81 respectively. It is important to appreciate that 'moral rights' are independent of the author's economic rights in a copyright work. Thus, in principle, they continue to apply to the author even after he or she has assigned or licensed the work and apply even if the author (e. g. as employee) never was the owner of the copyright. We say "in principle" because the CDPA 88 (unlike the copyright legislation of most other member states) provides that moral rights do not apply if the 'work' was created by an employee. The origin of moral rights lies in the continental approach to copyright which places paramount importance on the rights of the author. Moral rights are designed to preserve the reputation of the author by preventing acts which might undermine or even destroy that reputation e. g. making major and damaging changes to a book when it is converted into a film script. The rights of paternity, integrity and right of privacy last for the term of copyright in the work in question. The false attribution right lasts for 20 years after the person's death. Moral rights are not assignable but are transmissible. Also, all moral rights can be waived. The European Commission may well decide to consider whether the disparities between member states’ laws on moral rights create actual or potential barriers to the free movement of goods or services within the Community to a sufficient extent to warrant a harmonising directive.

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