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Authors Rights is a set of rules governing principles, moral and economic rights that the law grants authors for the creation of a literary, artistic or scientific work both published and unpublished.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the UN, in its article 27 provides that: everyone has the right to protect their moral and material interests resulting from any reproduction scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is an author.
The concept of author's rights which includes the estate of copyright expires with the death of the author. The work or works are then passed into the public domain, which implies that they can be used freely while respecting moral rights, ie. acknowledges that the work is an expression of the author's person.
The author's rights and copyrights are two different conceptions of literary and artistic property, but the concepts are based on the same idea, both are aimed at protecting the assets and rights of the author.
Historical Background
There are indications of the existence of authors rights roughly with the creation of the printing press, which allowed the reproduction of works on a large and widespread scale, emerging with it the need to protect works as a source of intellectual property.
By the eighteenth century publishers of works started expressing a "right to life", this sought to protect the reproduction of copies of the books that had been purchased by them, which led to the creation of rules to govern authors rights.
In 1710 authors rights arose in England, approved by the parliament on status of Queen Anne, "first rule, try to regulate authors rights, this rule stipulated that all published works receive a term of copyright by 14 years, renewable once if the author was kept alive, that is a maximum of 28 years' protection. While all works published before 1710 would receive a single period of 21 years from that date.
In the United States in the year 1778, laws were influenced by England with regard to authors rights, "provides for authors' rights on the creative property for a limited time".
In 1790 the United States emanates the first authors rights law, creating a federal system of copyright and protecting it for a period of fourteen years, renewable for the same term if the author was alive at maturity, which is a maximum of 28 years' protection.
If there was no renewal, his work went into the public domain. In the year 1831 the initial term of authors rights was increased from 14 to 28 years, reaching a maximum of 42 years' protection, and in 1909 the deadline renewal was extended from 14 to 28 years producing a maximum of 56 years' protection. Starting in the 50's the law began to extend the deadlines to exist in usual manner (1962, 1976 and 1998).
In the United States authors rights became a property right, while in France and Germany authors rights developed under the idea of a single expression of the author.
The first authors rights law was passed in France in the year 1791.
Up Application of Author Rights
The author's rights cover only the expression of content, but do not require registration or deposit of copies, copyright born with the creation of the work.
They are intended to protect original works of literature, art and science, whatever their form of expression or medium.
Books, pamphlets and other written materials
Dramatic Works or dramatic musicals
Choreography and pantomime
Musical Compositions, with or without words
Music works and other sound recordings
Cinematography and other audiovisual works
Works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography
Photographic Works
Illustrations, maps, plans, sketches and three-dimensional works on geography, topography, architecture or science
Information programs
There are several categories of materials that are generally not eligible for authors rights protection. These include among others:
Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression, for example: choreographic works that have not been written or recorded, or impromptu speeches or presentations that have not been written or recorded.
Titles and names, short phrases and slogans, symbols or familiar designs, variations of decorative printing, letters or colors, lists of ingredients or contents.
Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, appliances, as differentiated from a description, explanations or illustration.
Works that consist entirely of information that is public knowledge and do not represent a job that has an original author, for example: calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures or rules, and lists or tables obtained from public documents or other sources commonly used.
Laws, regulations and other rules, you can publish them but they are not exclusive to one person: others may also publish editions of the laws. In the case of works such as matches, correlations, comments and comparative studies of the laws, it can be protected as having original work by the author.
Up The Authors Rights
Author's rights generally give the owner the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:
Play the work in copies or records.
Prepare derivative works based on the original work.
Phonograms or distribute copies of the book to the public or by selling other transfers of property such as rent, lease or provide such copies.
In the case of sound recordings, interpreting the work publicly by means of audio transmission.
Show the work publicly in the case of literary, musical, dramatic choreographic, pantomime, paintings, graphic and sculptural, including images of individual films or other audiovisual productions.
The author's rights exist for the work that is created in the manner determined. The author's right, in work created immediately becomes the property of the author who created the works. Only the author or those whose rights derived from the author (co-owners of copyright) can claim ownership.
The author's right may be required by any person who has created a work regardless of age, a minor may also require author's rights for the creation of any work, in response to the laws governing the state or country.
Author's right may arise for an individual contribution of a periodical publication or in a series or any other collective work. There is a part of the copyright in a collective work as a whole and it is initially conferred to the author of each contribution.
Regulation of the Authors Rights
