What rights do copyright owners have over their works
1. Personal rights.
1. Personal rights in copyright law are different from personal rights in the concept of civil law. This right is inseparable from the author's person.
(1) Whether a legal person can enjoy personal rights. China's Copyright Law stipulates that legal persons or unincorporated entities can become the subject of copyright, which naturally recognizes that legal persons or unincorporated entities can enjoy personal rights. But this issue varies widely in copyright laws around the world. Most countries that protect the personal rights of authors stipulate in copyright laws that only natural persons can become authors, that is, only natural persons can enjoy personal rights. Because personal rights are a reflection of the author's personality, and the recognition of a legal person's will is a matter of recent years.
(2) Whether personal rights can be transferred and inherited. Generally speaking, personal rights are personality rights. From here, the transfer and inheritance of personal rights can be denied. Copyright laws in most countries stipulate that personal rights are inalienable, non-compulsory, non-transferable, etc. However, in theory and practice, the transfer and inheritance of some personal rights seem to have undeniable reasons and facts. Personal rights are inseparable from the author's person, but certain rights in personal rights are also inseparable from property rights.
(3) The difference between personal rights in copyright and personal rights in civil law. Personal rights in civil law mainly refer to the rights to life, health, freedom, personality rights, portrait rights, etc. It can be seen that the personal rights in civil law are rights inherent to the person itself. The difference between them and the personal rights in copyright is:
First, the basis for the generation of rights It can be seen that the emergence of personal rights in civil law is based on a person's birth. Once a person is born, he has life and also has personal rights. The personal rights in copyright are based on the creation of the work, that is, based on the birth of the work.
Second, in civil law, personal rights are inherent in human beings and are owned by everyone. The personal rights referred to in copyright are limited to the author, that is, the person who created the work is eligible to enjoy them. .
Third, personal rights in civil law are limited to natural persons, while personal rights in copyright law can be natural persons or legal persons according to the copyright law.
Fourth, most personal rights in civil law disappear with the death of a person's life (some personal rights cannot be extinguished even after death) infringement, such as portrait rights). Personal rights in copyright law can exist independently even if the subject dies, such as the right of signature.
Fifth, personal rights under civil law cannot be inherited and transferred, but some rights in personal rights under copyright law can be transferred and inherited.
Sixth, infringement of personal rights in civil law is mostly a direct infringement of the subject itself, while infringement of personal rights in copyright is manifested in the illegal use of works.
2. Right of publication. The right of publication is the right to decide whether a work should be made public. This contains two meanings: one is the decision to publish, and the other is the decision not to publish. The right of publication specifically includes the following contents: when to publish; in what form, such as book form, serial form, broadcast form, etc.; and where to publish. The published work should be the original or copy of the work that has not yet been made public. If the work has been published or exhibited, there will no longer be any issue of publication. Publicizing to the public mainly refers to preaching or exhibiting to an unspecified majority of people in a public place and making it known to the majority of people. If the work is simply circulated among the author's friends, it is not considered published.
3. Right of signature. The right of authorship means the right to indicate the identity of the author and to sign the work. The author's identity can be confirmed by his signature. The Copyright Law stipulates that, in the absence of proof to the contrary, the citizen, legal person, or other organization that signs the work is the author. The right of signature is the core of copyright. With the right of signature, the owner of the copyright can be confirmed.
4. The right to modify and the right to protect the integrity of the work. The right to modify and the right to protect the integrity of the work are essentially two aspects of the same thing. On the one hand, the author has the right to modify the work; on the other hand, the author has the right to prohibit others from tampering with or distorting the work. The right of modification refers to the right to modify or authorize others to modify a work.
2. Property rights.
Property rights in copyright refer to rights that can bring economic benefits to the copyright owner. The realization of this economic benefit depends on the copyright owner's use of the work. It can be seen from this that the property rights in copyright are different from the property rights in civil law.Mainly manifested in:
(1) Rights are expressed in different forms.
(2) Property rights in civil law are permanently protected. Even after the owner dies, he is still protected by the law and can be passed down from generation to generation.
(3) The law does not place too many restrictions on the exercise of property rights, but it places more restrictions on the exercise of copyright property rights, such as fair use No payment of remuneration etc. According to the provisions of the Copyright Law, the property right of a copyright refers to the right of the copyright owner to use the work through copying, distribution, leasing, exhibition, performance, screening, broadcasting, information network dissemination, filming or adaptation, translation, compilation, etc. and to obtain remuneration for it. , as well as the right to license others to use the work in the above-mentioned manner and receive compensation for it.
1. Right of reproduction: It is the right of the copyright owner to decide whether to implement or not to implement the above-mentioned copying behavior or to prohibit others from copying its protected works. It is the most important property right in copyright. , the most basic and universal rights. Copying refers to the act of making one or more copies of a work by printing, copying, rubbing, recording, videotaping, ripping, or photographing.
2. Distribution right: refers to the right to provide originals or copies of works to the public by selling or donating them. Distribution is an important channel for disseminating works and realizing the economic rights of copyright owners. Only through distribution can public acceptance be achieved.
3. Rental right: refers to the right to license others to temporarily use film works, works created by similar filmmaking methods, and computer software for a fee. The right to rent is a right listed separately after the revision of the Copyright Law. Originally, the "Implementation Regulations of the Copyright Law" stipulated it as one of the methods of distribution.
4. Exhibition right: refers to the right to publicly display originals or copies of art works and photographic works. The works that can be exhibited are generally limited to fine arts and photography, because these two types of works are visual works, and the content of the works is not easy for people to understand through other communication methods. Exhibition is the best channel.
5. Performance right: that is, the right to publicly perform works and to use various means to publicly broadcast the performance of works. Performances can be divided into live performances and mechanical performances. The former refers to the direct demonstration of works through the body's body and movements; the latter refers to the repeated reproduction of performances of certain works with the help of mechanical equipment, such as playing audio-visual works through recording, video and other equipment.
6, Screening rights: refers to the right to publicly reproduce art, photography, movies, and works created with methods similar to filmmaking through projectors, slide projectors and other technical equipment. This is a new right after the revision of the Copyright Law.
7. Broadcasting rights: refers to the public broadcast or dissemination of works by wireless means, the dissemination of broadcast works to the public by wired dissemination or rebroadcasting, and the use of loudspeakers or other similar means of transmitting symbols, sounds, images, to communicate broadcast works to the public. The exercise of broadcasting rights technically has to be carried out through radio and television stations, and broadcasting behavior is regulated by national administrative regulations and departmental rules. Therefore, there is often the fact that broadcasting is authorized.
8. Information network dissemination right: refers to the right to provide works to the public in wired or wireless ways, so that the public can obtain the works at a time and place of their own choosing. . This is a newly added right when the Copyright Law was revised in response to the development of information networks. Prior to this, when it came to uploading other people's works to the Internet, courts mostly protected copyright owners by identifying them as illegal copying (that is, expanding their interpretation of the right to copy).
9. Filming right: refers to the right to fix the work on a carrier by making a movie or by a method similar to making a movie. The right to film can be exercised by oneself or authorized to be exercised by others.
10. Adaptation right: refers to the right to change the original work and create an original new work. The right to adapt can be exercised by oneself or allowed to be exercised by others. The reason why the work needs to be adapted is to adapt to the requirements of different communication methods.
11. Translation right: refers to the right to convert a work from one language into another language.
12. Right of compilation: refers to the right to assemble works or fragments of works into new works through selection or arrangement. The exercise of the right of compilation, if original in the selection and arrangement of materials, forms a compilation work.
If your copyright is treated improperly, you can protect your rights through legal channels. For specific information, you can consult a relevant lawyer.
