Moral Rights

Moral rights protect the personal bond between authors and their works. Unlike economic rights, they cannot be assigned and remain tied to the author’s personality.

Three Core Rights

• Right of disclosure (LIAW Article 14): The author decides whether, when and how the work is made public.
• Right of attribution (LIAW Article 15): The author decides whether the work is published under their name, a pseudonym or anonymously. The person named on the work in the customary manner is presumed to be the author.
• Right of integrity (LIAW Article 16): No abridgement, addition or other alteration may be made to the work or to the author’s name without consent. Changes required by technical necessity are an exception.

The author also has certain rights against the owner and possessor of the original; the owner may not damage or destroy the work (LIAW Article 17).

Limits

One of the most debated areas is architectural works: a building owner wishing to alter a building that qualifies as a work may face the architect’s moral rights.

Even where economic rights in employees’ works pass to the employer, moral rights stay with the employee. Employment and service contracts should therefore regulate how disclosure, attribution and alteration will be handled.

Duration

After the author’s death, certain moral rights may be exercised for seventy years by the executor or, failing that, the spouse, children and other heirs (LIAW Article 19).