Moral Rights in the Information Society

Abstract

This essay mainly concentrates on the value of moral rights in this ever-developing society. Above all, the background of moral rights is provided, giving us a brief introduction. There are two categories of rights in copyright system; one is economic rights, which can bring economic interests to right holders directly; the other one is moral rights, which stands for the creator’s personality but can’t produce economic interests directly. As to international regulation, Art.6 bis of the Berne Convention has some clauses on such rights. In moral rights system, rights are divided into four kinds: the right to be identified as an author or a director—the paternity right or the right to be identified; the right to object to derogatory treatment of work—the integrity right; the false attribution of work—the false attribution right; and the right to privacy of certain photographs and films—the privacy right. All these rights are beneficial as they can protect creators’ rights from the four aspects. Form this standpoint, it is reasonable to grant moral rights. However, in the following, some shortcomings of moral rights are to be displayed as these rights are unable to meet the requirements of the modern society. With the advent and development of internet, collectivization, digitization and employment, some measures should be taken so as to adjust the moral rights system to keep pace of the society. From my standpoint, it is still justified to keep moral rights existing but we should make some adaptations of them in order to meet the needs of this digital era and the information society.