Moral Rights in Copyright Law are not Assignable . They are Personal and They Subsist Beyond the Death of the Author: LHC
In copyright law, “moral rights” are quite a unique set of rights which authors may retain even when they transfer their copyrights. Moral rights ensure that the personal, credits, reputational and image related interests of the author remains protected even after the copyright has been transferred to other parties.
In, “Riffat Saraf v Eye Television Network [2009 CLD 1133, LHC]” a matter was brought before the Court that a drama serial was being aired without giving credits to the appellant’s name. The appellant claimed that she was the author of the novel, upon which the drama serial was based on; however her name had not been credited. On the other hand, the defendants stated that since she had assigned the rights relating to the novel, thus they had no obligation to give her credits.
The Court held in favor of the plaintiff that: “6……an author of the intellectual work when assigns the rights in the intellectual property, does not assign the moral rights. It is the moral rights of the author/appellant to have her name telecast with regard to the work, which is her creation.”
Courtesy: Abdul Rafay Siddiqui, Advocate High Court
2009 C L D 1133
