Legal Definitions - moral right

A moral right refers to the personal rights that creators, such as authors, artists, and filmmakers, retain over their original works, even after they have sold the physical work or transferred its copyright. These rights are rooted in the idea that a creative work is an extension of the creator's personality and should be protected from actions that could damage their reputation or the integrity of the work itself. Unlike economic rights (like the right to sell copies), moral rights are often considered inalienable and perpetual, though their recognition varies significantly across different countries.

Key aspects of moral rights include:

• Right of Attribution: The right to be identified as the creator of a work, to prevent others from falsely claiming authorship, and to object to being credited for a work that has been significantly altered.
• Right of Integrity: The right to prevent unauthorized alteration, distortion, or mutilation of a work that could harm the creator's honor or reputation.
• Right of Disclosure: The right to decide if and when a work is first presented to the public.
• Right of Withdrawal: The right to remove a work from public circulation, often with compensation to those affected.

Here are some examples illustrating moral rights:

• Example 1: Architectural Integrity
  A renowned architect designs a unique, environmentally friendly building for a university campus. Years after its completion, the university decides to add a large, garish advertising billboard to one of the building's most prominent facades, significantly altering its aesthetic and the architect's original vision.

  How it illustrates: The architect could invoke their moral right of integrity to object to this alteration. Even though the university owns the building, the architect retains the right to protect the artistic and structural integrity of their creation from changes that could damage their professional reputation or distort the original artistic intent.

• Example 2: Graphic Designer's Attribution
  A freelance graphic designer creates a distinctive logo and comprehensive branding guide for a startup company. The company later becomes very successful and, in a major marketing campaign, uses the logo but credits an in-house design team for its creation, completely omitting the original designer's name.

  How it illustrates: The graphic designer could assert their moral right of attribution. This right ensures they receive proper credit for their original work, preventing others from falsely claiming authorship or denying the true creator recognition, regardless of who owns the copyright or the final design files.

• Example 3: Filmmaker's Integrity and Attribution
  A celebrated documentary filmmaker produces a powerful film about climate change. After the film is sold to a streaming platform, the platform decides to heavily re-edit it to remove certain controversial segments and insert new narration from a different person, fundamentally changing the film's message and tone. The platform then releases this altered version without crediting the original filmmaker for the revised cut.

  How it illustrates: This scenario involves both the moral right of integrity (the unauthorized, significant alteration of the film's content and message) and the moral right of attribution (the filmmaker's right to not be associated with a distorted version of their work, or to demand proper credit for the original version). The filmmaker could argue that these changes misrepresent their artistic vision and damage their professional reputation.