Study Unit 2.2 - The main rights granted by copyright: moral and economic rights

Question 1

What are the different economic rights ?

Answer 1

• Right of reproduction.
• Right to publish.
• Right to perform the work in public.
• Right to cause the work to be transmitted in a diffusion service.
• Right to adaptation.
• Right to broadcast or rebroadcast.

Question 2

Discuss reproduction.

Answer 2

• Making copies of a protected work in the form of a book.
• For example a publisher printing a manuscript into a book that is then distributed and sold to the public, or an audio book.

Question 3

Discuss public performance.

Answer 3

• On the basis of this right, authors and/or copyright owners may undertake or authorise live performance of a work.
• The right also involves playing a work over amplification equipment like loud speakers.

Question 4

Discuss adaptation.

Answer 4

• This generally involves modifying an existing work to create a new work.
• According to the Google case, to be transformative, a work must do something
  fundamentally different from the original.
• A work that simply serves the same purpose in a new context, which the majority concedes is true here, is derivative, not transformative.

Question 5

Discuss moral rights.

Answer 5

• Moral rights apply only to literary, musical or artistic works, cinematograph film or computer program.
• They apply even after copyright (economic rights) is transferred.

Question 6

What are the two categories of moral rights ?

Answer 6

• Right to claim authorship (also known as ‘right of paternity’).
• Right to object to distortion (also known as ‘right of integrity’).

Question 7

Discuss the right to object to distortion.

Answer 7

• Involves the right to object to distortion, mutilation or other modification of the work where such action is, or would be, prejudicial to his honour or reputation.
• It has exceptions apply only to computer programs and use of a work in a cinematograph film or television broadcast.
• If an author allows their work to be used in a film, TV show, or computer program, they can’t stop required technical changes or adjustments needed for commercial purposes.