0.3 Rights, exceptions, and limitations  (Page 3/12)

The copyright holder’s right to control the public performance of her work extends to many communications that might not initially seem like “performances.” For example, as indicated above, it grants a copyright holder the right to authorize broadcasts of her work. This includes television broadcasting, cable distribution, satellite distribution, and re-broadcasts of a work. It can also encompass on-demand digital transmissions and pay-per-view broadcasts. At least in some countries, the right also extends to performances in settings that don't seem especially "public" in the ordinary sense -- for example, in schools, nursing homes, and prisons.

The WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performers and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), discussed in  Module 2 , altered this set of rules subtly -- and in ways that have not yet been fully resolved. Article 8 of the WCT and Articles 10 and 12 of the WPPT require member countries to recognize a right to make a copyrighted work "available" to the public. The United States has taken the position that these treaty provisions do not require any change in the way that the US has formulated and enforced the right of public performance. Not all countries agree. The EU, for example, has taken the position that the "making available" right adds something new. The principal circumstance in which this disagreement might make a difference is when someone posts a copyrighted document on a website, but no one has yet downloaded it. The treatment of such cases may vary by country.

Moral rights

Many countries provide authors  moral rights  in addition to  economic rights.  Unlike economic rights, moral rights usually cannot be transferred to other persons, although many countries allow them to be waived -- either altogether (for example, in the United States) or in conjunction with specific licenses of economic rights (for example, in France). The limits on transfers of moral rights reflects the rationale that underlie them -- namely, that the works produced by an author are an extension of his or her self and bear the an imprint of his or her personality. Accordingly, moral rights protect certain copyrighted works from destruction or mutilation, partially to protect the author’s expression of her personality, and partially to protect the author’s reputation from harm. Moral rights are recognized especially broadly in countries with civil law traditions.

Recognition of a limited subset of moral rights is mandated by  Article 6bis of the Berne Convention . Article 6bis requires that the author of a work be given at least two types of moral rights. The first is commonly know as the  "right of attribution."  It encompasses not only the right of an author to have her name associated with her works, but also the right to not have her name associated with works that are not hers. The right of attribution also gives an author the right to publish a work under a pseudonym. The second moral right required by Article 6bis is the author's right to object to the destruction or modification of her work in a way that would harm her honor or reputation. This is commonly known as the  "right of integrity."