A copyright suit involving Rapper Jay-Z brought the concept of moral rights to wider attention. The dispute concerned the sampling of an old Egyptian song, Khosara Khosara, in the song “Big Pimpin'”. Jay-Z, also known as Shawn Carter, and producer Timbaland, also known as Timothy Mosley, contended that the hook or sample of Khosara Khosara had been licensed to them. A sum of $100,000 was paid to EMI Music Arabia for the licence in 2001. Osama Fahmy, nephew of Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi \u2014 the original composer of the song \u2014 contended that, by using the sample for Big Pimpin’, the song had been “mutilated” and “distorted”. Under Egyptian copyright law, the licensing of the song relinquished the licensor’s economic rights, but the moral rights of the composer remained intact, and the use of the work required the moral rights holder’s separate permission.<\/p>\n
The dispute raises the question of the distinction between economic rights and moral rights in copyright law. Economic rights, as the name indicates, confer financial benefits on the author of a work and are transferable: they may be assigned to a third party. Moral rights, by contrast, are not transferable.<\/p>\n
Moral rights, or droit moral<\/em>, originated in French law. They are enshrined in Article 6bis<\/em> of the Berne Convention, which states:<\/p>\n Independent of the author’s economic rights, and even after the transfer of the said rights, the author shall have the right to claim authorship of the work and to object to any distortion, modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to the said work, which would be prejudicial to the author’s honor or reputation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Section 57 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, which deals with the moral rights of authors, is modelled after Article 6bis<\/em>.<\/p>\n Moral rights under Indian law are of two types: the right of paternity and the right of integrity. Under the right of paternity, or Droit de Paternite<\/em>, an author has the right to claim authorship of the work and to prevent others from claiming authorship over it. Under the right of integrity, or Droit de respect de l’oeuvre<\/em>, the author has the right to protect the work from mutilation, distortion, or alteration in any manner detrimental to the author’s honour.<\/p>\n Section 57 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, states that, independently of the author’s copyright and even after the assignment of that copyright whether wholly or partially, the author shall have the right to claim authorship as well as the right to restrain or claim damages in respect of mutilation, distortion, or modification of the work, or any other act prejudicial to the author’s honour or reputation.<\/p>\n The proviso to Section 57(1)(b) limits this right in relation to adaptations of a computer programme to which clause (aa) of sub-section (1) of section 52 applies. Section 52 addresses fair use and certain permitted acts. Section 52(1)(aa) permits a lawful possessor of a computer programme to make adaptations or copies in two circumstances: to utilise the programme for the purpose for which it was supplied, and for temporary protection against loss or damage to use the programme for that purpose.<\/p>\n The explanation appended to Section 57 further clarifies that the right of retraction or withdrawal on account of the author’s dissatisfaction is not recognised. Accordingly, failure to display a work, or failure to display it to the author’s satisfaction, does not amount to infringement of rights under Section 57.<\/p>\n One of the earliest landmark judgments in India on moral rights is Mannu Bhandari v. Kala Vikas Pictures Ltd.<\/em> (AIR 1987 Del. 13). The dispute arose in relation to a novel titled Aap Ka Bunty<\/em> authored by the plaintiff. The plaintiff had assigned the cinematograph film rights to Kala Vikas Pictures (the Defendants).<\/p>\n The Court made several significant observations. First, it held that Section 57 “lifts the author’s status beyond the material gains of copyright and gives it a special status”. Second, the Court confirmed that the remedies of a restraint order or damages are available “even after the assignment either wholly or partially of the said copyright”, which indicates that assignment contracts must be consistent with Section 57. On the question of permissible modifications, the Court held that only such modifications are permissible as do not mutilate or distort the original source material.<\/p>\n The position under United States copyright law differs markedly from the Indian framework. The United States does not, in general, recognise the concept of moral rights. In Fahmy v. Jay Z<\/em>, the United States District Court, Central District of California, reiterated this position. The Court discussed the concept of moral rights stating that ” The[] separate viability of [moral rights] is such that a full transfer of copyright may suffice for all economic purposes, but may exert no impact on the assertion of [moral rights] claims.” [Nimmer on Copyright \u00a7 8D.01 (2013)].<\/p>\n On the recognition of moral rights in the United States, the Court cited the 9th Circuit’s decision in Garcia v. Google, Inc.<\/em>, observing that the plaintiff was not “protected by the benefits found in many European countries, where authors have ‘moral rights’ to control the integrity of their works and to guard against distortion, manipulation, or misappropriation. Except for a limited universe of works of visual art, such as paintings and drawings protected under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990, United States copyright law generally does not recognize moral rights.” Mr. Fahmy’s claim accordingly failed for want of standing.<\/p>\n This article is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult a qualified attorney before acting on any matter discussed here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This article provides a comparative analysis of moral rights in copyright law under Indian and US frameworks. It discusses key legal provisions, landmark cases, and the practical implications for authors\u2019 rights in both jurisdictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":54,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[810,6632,12955,12956,804,12957,12891],"class_list":["post-30657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copyrights","category-intellectual-property","tag-berne-convention","tag-copyright-law-india","tag-droit-moral","tag-jay-z-copyright","tag-moral-rights","tag-right-of-integrity","tag-section-57-copyright-act"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30657"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149890,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30657\/revisions\/149890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Moral Rights Under Indian Law<\/h2>\n
Mannu Bhandari v. Kala Vikas Pictures Ltd.<\/h2>\n
Position Under United States Law<\/h2>\n
Disclaimer<\/h2>\n