A review on divergent approaches concerning moral rights of authors in continental European and Anglo-Saxon legal systems

Bak, B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2388-4796 (2018) A review on divergent approaches concerning moral rights of authors in continental European and Anglo-Saxon legal systems. Terazi Hukuk Dergisi/Libra Law Journal, 13 (140). pp. 14-23. ISSN 1306-9802

Abstract/Summary

The importance given to the moral rights of authors differs dramatically between Continental European and Anglo-Saxon legal systems. Although the only moral rights of authors recognised in the Berne Convention—the key international treaty governing copyright protection and establishing minimum standards—are the right to attribute authorship and the right to object to derogatory treatment, the interpretation and enforcement of these rights vary significantly between jurisdictions. Harmonising these rights is challenging because the divergent approaches reflect not only different legal preferences but also distinct underlying philosophies. This issue is closely related to whether moral rights should exist independently of economic rights or be inseparably linked to them. Consequently, these two legal traditions adopt different approaches to the purpose of copyright protection, especially regarding moral rights, creating a dichotomy despite some opposing viewpoints. This paper proposes a re-evaluation of these approaches in light of the emerging technological era.