What rights does copyright give me?
There are two types of rights under copyright: economic rights, which allow the rights owner to derive financial reward from the use of their works by others; and moral rights, which protect the non-economic interests of the author.
The economic rights of the author are as follows:
- right of representation, which consists in the communication of the work to the public by any means (television broadcasting, distribution on a computer network such as the Internet, public exhibition of a work …)
- reproduction right, which consists of fixing the work on a medium, such as a book, poster, magazine, CD-ROM, disc, or on a computer server
The author or the assignee of the rights may claim economic rights to the work throughout the life of the author and his assigns for 70 years after the death of the author.
Beyond that, the work falls into the public domain and can therefore be freely exploited (subject to respect for moral rights).
The economic rights of the author are transferable in whole or in part.
Any representation or reproduction of the work without the authorization of the owner of these rights constitutes an act of counterfeit.
The moral right is perpetual, inalienable and imprescriptible, which means that it can not be ceded, that the author can not renounce it and that it subsists and must be respected even when the work has fallen into the public domain. At the death of the author, moral rights are exercised by his heirs.
The moral right includes the following four rights:
- right of disclosure: right of the author to decide to make his work available to the public and to choose the methods of disclosure of his work;
right to paternity of the work: right for the author to always see his name indicated on any reproduction or for any representation of his work, but also, if he wishes, the right to anonymity;
- right to the respect of the work: right to oppose any distortion, mutilation or other modification of the work (this right applies in a very restrictive way in software, the author of a software not being able to to oppose a modification of his work, except to prove that such a modification would be prejudicial to his honor or his reputation);
- right of repentance or withdrawal: right of the author to withdraw his work from the market after its publication. This right is subject to the prior compensation of the assignee of the loss suffered as a result of the withdrawal of the work.
Any violation of the moral right of the author is constitutive of counterfeit.
Duration of copyright protection
The term of copyright is 70 years for economic rights and is perpetual for moral rights
The economic rights may be invoked by the author throughout his life and continue for the benefit of his beneficiaries for 70 years after the death of the author. Beyond, the work falls into the public domain and can therefore be freely exploited.
Moral rights are perpetual, which means that they survive and must be respected even when the work has entered the public domain. At the death of the author, moral rights are exercised by his heirs.
