How do 'moral rights' differ from other rights in copyright? Critically discuss particularly in the context of multi media.

Usually, the individual or collective who authored the work will entirely own the copyright. Though, if a work is produced as part of employment then normally the copyright belongs to the person/company who hired the individual.  For temporary or commissioned work, copyright will usually belong to the author of the work, unless there is an agreement to the contrary, (i.e. in a contract for service). Copyright does not exist in any part of a work which is a copy taken from a previous work. For example, in a piece of music featuring samples from a previous work, the copyright of the samples would still remain with the original author. Only the owner, or his exclusive licensee can bring proceedings in the courts.

The 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act states the duration of copyright as: For literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works -70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies, or, if the work is of unknown authorship: 70 years from end of the calendar year in which the work was created, or if made available to the public in that time, (by publication, authorised performance, broadcast, exhibition, etc.), 70 years from the end of the year that the work was first made available, Sound Recordings and broadcasts 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was created, or, if the work is released within that time: 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first released, Films 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last principal director, author or composer dies, or, if the work is of unknown authorship: 70 years from end of the calendar year of creation, or if made available to the public in that time, 70 years from the end of the year the film was first made available, Typographical arrangement of published editions 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published, Broadcasts and cable programs 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the broadcast was made. 

A very important part of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 is moral rights. The Act identifies four moral rights, which are: 1. the right to be identified as author or film director (the right of paternity), 2. the right to object to derogatory treatment of a work (the right of integrity), 3. the right against false attribution of a work and 4. the right to private photographs and films.  

 Moral rights are granted to the authors of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and to film directors: 1.to be identified as the author of the work or director of the film in certain circumstances, e.g. when copies are issued to the public and 2. to object to derogatory treatment of the work or film which amounts to a distortion or mutilation or is otherwise prejudicial to the honour or reputation of the author or director. These moral rights give the conception an importance, which in some measure redounds to the advantage of authors.

The action of moral rights in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as interests separate from copyright has a number of effects: 1) the rights (except the right of privacy) have been recorded only to authors whose copyright rests on creativity rather than investment. The rights were extended to film directors at a time when they were not authors and it has aided their campaign for their own copyright, 2) the rights are personal but they are good against all who treat the work in a prejudicial way falling within one of the provisions and 3) the rights are not totally tied to the acts of reproduction and performance which make up copyright. Specific, in the area of artistic works, moral rights cover public exhibition of the original as well as copying of it. The legislation of the 1988 Act tried to give full regulations to run difficult problems.

Copyright owners generally have the right to authorise or prohibit any of the following things in relation to their works: 1.copying the work in any way. For example, photocopying, reproducing a printed page by handwriting, typing or scanning into a computer, and taping live or recorded music are all forms of copying, 2. issuing copies of the work to the public. However, once a copy has legally been put into circulation anywhere in the European Economic Area, this right cannot be used to prevent further sale of that copy, although the copyright owner can still control rental and lending of it, 3. renting or lending copies of the work to the public. However, some lending of copyright works falls within the  scheme, and this lending does not infringe copyright, 4. performing, showing or playing the work in public. Obvious examples are performing plays and music, playing sound recordings and showing films or videos in public. But this right also includes public delivery of lectures, speeches and the like, and letting a broadcast be seen or heard in public also involves performance of music and other copyright material contained in the broadcast, 5.broadcasting the work or other communication to the public by electronic transmission.  This includes putting copyright material on the internet or using it in an on demand service where members of the public choose the time that the work is sent to them and 6. making an adaptation of the work, such as by translating a literary or dramatic work, transcribing a musical work and converting a computer program into a different computer language or code.

Economic rights protect a work with regards to: Copying for example photocopying, reproduction by hand, creation of digital copies onto any format including floppy disk, CD-ROM, DVD, hard disk or the RAM of a computer; publishing, renting or lending, broadcasting or performing in public and as well the alteration of computer programmes into different code. If any of these acts are carried out on the whole or a substantial part of a copyrighted work without the consent of the copyright owner and none of the exceptions to copyright apply, then copyright is infringed. What constitutes a “substantial” part is very subjective and in legal disputes it is really a matter for the judges to decide. The government states that a "substantial part" has been interpreted by the courts as “a qualitatively significant part of a work even where this is not a large part of the work.” (Intellectual-Property, 2001) 

If breach takes place then it is left to the judgment of the copyright owner as to what action should be taken. It would make sense financially if the disagreement could be settled without the commencement of legal measures but if the case could not be set on out of court, then a solution could be found in court. Likely solutions include: court rulings, damages and the destruction of the offending items. Infringement cases on the Web and on intranets have been exacerbated by the ability to link from one web site to another. Although linking itself does not constitute copying, problems have arisen due to the fact that hyperlinks can be established that give no indication as to where they lead. While linking to another company's homepage is perfectly lawful, linking to other pages, known as “deep linking” has resulted in legal wrangling.

In difference to the economic rights under copyright, moral rights are concerned with protecting the personality and reputation of authors. The right to be identified cannot be exercised unless it has been asserted, i.e. the author or director has indicated their wish to exercise the right by giving notice to this effect (which generally has to be in writing and signed) to those seeking to use or exploit the work or film. Moreover, the author or director can waive both the right to be identified and the right to object to derogatory treatment.

The legislation of the Act 1988 tried to give full regulations to run difficult problems. For the reason that the 1988 legislation must be creative analysis. Because of all the exclusions and limits, the rights in copyright have a significant variety. The Legal System will be helped out in remaining them contained by limits by criteria in the regulations, which is needed for objective evaluation and particularly with the concept of derogatory treatment, which must prejudice honour and reputation.

Because copyright law last for an extended time and usually ‘gives answers’ to a variety of dissimilar exploitations, there is a way to protect individuals included in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 by certain rights which go beyond the possible of contractual agreement. However, each breach of moral rights holds back another individual’s autonomy of expression or freedom to do business. The rights should therefore be limited to cases of actual damage. Possibility should be opened for the individuals interested to achieve realistic agreement regarding moral interests, safe in the facts that the agreements are compulsory.

         Copyright is both an economic and an ideological concept. It rewards creators but equally it is supposed to encourage creativity. In reality, it is a system for rewarding investors in the creations of others and becomes an indirect means of controlling access. A workable balance has to be found between protection and access.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyright, Trade Marks and Allied Rights by Cornish & Llewlyn (5th Edition), Thomson Sweet & Maxwell
2. Cases and Materials on Intellectual Property by W.R. Cornish (3rd Edition)
3. Research Through Internet