Moral right is the author’s personal right relating to the protected work, independent from the copyright, regardless of any assignment of copyright.
Think of moral right as a parallel right to the copyright, because both moral right and copyright arise out of the authorship of protected works.
Moral right cannot be assigned, but can be waived.
In summary, moral right encompasses the following rights:
(1) Paternity Right: The author has the right to be associated with the work. The author has the right to be named, be named under a pseudonym, or remain anonymous.
For instance, for works done during employment, the employer would be the first owner of the copyright, but the author employee would nonetheless be entitled to be properly credited as the author.
(2) Integrity Right: The author has the right to the work’s integrity.
For instance, a sculptor has the right to restrain the exhibitor from mutilating the work.
(3) Association Right: The author has the right to restrict association of the work with something else.
For instance, a painter may restrain the owner of the painting from associating the painting with businesses that may harm the painter’s reputation.
Under the much-blogged Bill C-61, the Parliament is considering granting moral rights to performers, which are essentially the same as an author’s moral rights.
