15.4: MORAL RIGHTS

More.... 1, 2, 3, 4, 6,

What are Moral Rights?

Moral rights are quite simply the right to not have your work messed about with in ways you don't want and to have your name on your work. Basically, no-one is allowed to use your songs without admitting it on their records or CDs - even if they are paying you. In other words if you wrote a song, your name has to be in brackets next to it on the cover and label.

The moral rights code, which was introduced in the 1988 Act, moves away from the economic base of copyright and deals with more abstract concepts, such as the reputation of an author and the integrity of his work. As such, moral rights are vested inalienably in the author of the work during his lifetime, and not in the copyright owner. Four types of moral right are outlined in the 1988 Act:

• the right to be identified as author of the work;
• the right to object to derogatory treatment of one's work;
• the right not to have a work falsely attributed to oneself; and
• the right to privacy of certain photographs and films.

TO BE CONTINUED.........SOON! HONEST!