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Moral Rights in Copyright Law
Moral rights are used in various forms regarding the law. The more conventional usage of the term “moral rights” refers to the rights a person has without those rights being specifically stipulated in legal acts of a country.
The rights have been known as the natural rights as discussed by philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes. Such rights can include the right to safety, to be free, to education, to clean water, to land ownership, and more.
Simply looking at the above moral rights, one can immediately see that in many countries these rights are not protected, and depending on the social consciousness of the country’s citizens, such rights may differ vastly from one country to another.
The term today, more often than not refers to the moral rights of an artist or author. As such the rights refer to the right of for instance, the author to be identified and acknowledged as the creator of the work regardless of who holds the copyrights to the work. It can also refer to the right of the author to stay anonymous.
Authors for instance, retain the right to refuse the usage, publication or adaptation of their work if they feel that such would affect the integrity of the work.
An author can also withdraw permission for the above should the author feel that the integrity of the work is jeopardized.
It should be noted that moral rights in copyright will only be valid as long as the artist or author is still alive since the artist or author needs to be able to protest against the specific usage, publication, marketing, adaptation or usage of their work. If the work is thus used in a manner that contrasts the intent, integrity or reputation of the author or artist they can refuse usage thereof.
If you are an author or artist that requires assistance in protecting the integrity of your work, contact us at Smit & Van Wyk today.
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