Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Henri Sivonen <hsivonen AT iki.fi>]

On Mar 25, 2005, at 23:45, drew Roberts wrote:

> Interesting, but if this is about respecting the person of the artist 
> as has
> been being discussed... You can't trash me while I am alive, but you 
> can drag
> me through the mud when I am gone and my family can't object, even if 
> that
> tends to reduce their standing in society?
>
> I took it to family as I felt that might be a stronger case than the 
> business
> successors that you quoted.

My understanding (IANAL) is that the family heirs of a dead person can 
enforce the moral rights of the dead person. A business successor 
cannot, because businesses cannot hold moral rights.

> Also interesting that the moral rights were held not to be 
> transferrable while
> I assume the copyrights were. Especially since it has been pointed out 
> that
> copyrights flow from and rest on moral rights. (My wording from what I 
> think
> I was told.)

The point is that you cannot transfer moral rights, because they 
protect the reputation and integrity of the author who is the person 
who created the work and no one else. The character of the author is 
not merchandise like the financial interest in the work.

In Finland, instead of complex contract law there is a freedom of 
contract. In principle, two people or other legal entities can agree on 
anything. However, it is recognized that the legal ideal of a balanced 
negotiation cannot take place in all situations--in particular in 
situations where one party is a business and the other is a private 
person (an employee or a consumer). That's why there are specific 
limitations that make certain components of agreements void.

The expectation is that an author makes a contract with a publisher or 
an employer--that is, a company that wields financial power over the 
author. Moral rights protect the author from an evil publisher. The 
author is not allowed to transfer or dispose of the moral rights, so 
(s)he cannot be coerced into doing so.

--
Henri Sivonen
hsivonen AT iki.fi
http://hsivonen.iki.fi/