Re: Moral rights (Was: copyright expiration as a spur to creativity)

Moritz Roettinger <moritz.roettinger[_at_]dg23.cec.be> wrote:
>
> Pascal Kamina <pkamina[_at_]club-internet.fr> wrote:
> >
> > Moritz Roettinger <moritz.roettinger[_at_]dg23.cec.be> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Tue, 01 Sep 1998, Pascal Kamina <pkamina[_at_]club-internet.fr> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Just a remark to say that the concept that copyright is not
> > > > transferrable inter vivos is a concept developed under German
> > > > law, which is not shared by other "author's right" systems.
> > > > For example under French law copyright (i.e. author's rights
> > > > less moral rights) is freely transferrable (subject to mandatory
> > > > rules regarding contracts and specific prohibitions, such as the
> > > > prohibition of assignments of future works).
> > >
> > > Well, this migut be a question of definition. Under German and
> > > Austrian law you may, of course, transfer the "exploitation rights,
> > > economic rights" ("Verwertungsrechte") by means of license. But
> > > you can't transfer the whole copyright including the moral rights.
> >
> > But can you "assign", instead of "license", these economic rights?
> > My understanding was that under German law "economic rights" could
> > only be "licensed" (due to the "personal" nature, etc. of copyright).
> > I am wrong?
> >
> > Under French law an assignment of economic rights is possible, since
> > copyright ("economic" rights) is considered as a property right. By
> > contrast, it is generally thought (although it is being discussed),
> > that moral rights have a different nature (they belong to the
> > category of "rights of personality"), which would explain why they
> > are not transferrable nor waivable.
>
> Before giving you an answer, could you just clarify the difference
> between "licensing a right" and "assigning a right"? Thanks in advance!

By assignment I meant a transfer of a property - or a "sale", to make it short. In civil law terms, a transfer of property rights. The assignee becomes the owner of the assigned item or property (usually without limits of duration or scope). E.g. a sale of goods, the assignment of a patent, or of patent rights.

By licence, I mean an "authorisation" to exploit the work or the protected item (usually limited in time, exclusive or non exclusive). E.g. a trademark licence, a patent licence. The licensee is not owner of the licensed item.

Pascal Kamina
<pkamina[_at_]club-internet.fr> Received on Sun Sep 06 1998 - 16:02:30 GMT