Moral right

Moral rights are the extrapatrimonial component of copyright. They protect the personal link between the author and the work. Under Article L. 121-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code, the author enjoys the right to respect for the author’s name, capacity and work. This right is attached to the author’s person. Moral rights are perpetual, inalienable and imprescriptible.

The attributes of moral rights

Moral rights comprise four prerogatives. First, the right of disclosure, which allows the author alone to decide on the communication of the work to the public. Second, the right of attribution, which gives the author the right to have the name associated with the work or to remain anonymous. Third, the right to respect for the work, which prohibits any modification, distortion or alteration without the author’s consent. Fourth, the right of withdrawal and reconsideration, which authorises the author to withdraw the work from circulation subject to compensating the assignee. The corresponding provisions are accessible on Légifrance.

The characteristics of moral rights

Their inalienable character prohibits any assignment. A clause by which the author would waive in advance the exercise of moral rights is void. The courts however accept that the author may tolerate certain adaptations within a precise contractual framework, notably for collaborative works or audiovisual works. Their perpetual character means that moral rights survive the author and pass to the heirs, who may act against interferences with the work. Their imprescriptible character prevents the author’s inaction from extinguishing the right.

Moral rights and software

For software, Article L. 121-7 of the Code restricts moral rights. Unless otherwise stipulated, the author may not oppose the modification of the software by the assignee where it does not prejudice the author’s honour or reputation. Nor may the author exercise the right of withdrawal or reconsideration. This adaptation secures IT maintenance contracts and development projects. In practice, the firm integrates these rules into the drafting and litigation of contracts over protected creations.