1. Who owns the copyright of ghostwritten works
"On the Civil Trial of Copyright The Interpretation of Several Issues on the Application of Law in Dispute Cases clearly stipulates that, except for works hosted by a legal person or other organization, created on behalf of the will of the legal person or other organization, and for which the legal person or other organization assumes responsibility, the legal person or other organization shall be regarded as the author. The copyright of reports, speeches and other works written by others, reviewed and finalized by myself and published in my own name belongs to the reporter or speaker, and the copyright owner may pay appropriate remuneration to the writer.
Lawyer’s reminder: For autobiographical works that the parties agree to complete based on the experiences of specific people, if the parties have an agreement on the ownership of the copyright, the agreement shall prevail; if there is no agreement, the agreement shall apply. , the copyright belongs to the specific person. If the writer or organizer has contributed to the completion of the work, the copyright owner may pay him appropriate remuneration.
2. Who owns the copyright of the ghostwritten paper
Nowadays, we are no strangers to the word gunman. The main job of this kind of people is to ghostwrite papers, take exams, etc., especially entrusting others to ghostwrite papers, which is happening in our lives and is an intensifying trend. From a hidden state in the past, it has now taken to the streets to openly publicize and advertise in print media and the Internet with great fanfare. Although the essay writing business is so prosperous, there are many problems, and it has also caused many disputes in practice. What is the legal relationship between the ghostwriter and the client? Who owns the copyright of the paper? Can moral rights be separated from the author? This article intends to theoretically discuss these issues in the hope of drawing people's attention to this issue.
There is no doubt that the legal relationship between the essay writer and the customizer is based on a civil contract. On the surface, the ghostwriter accepted the commission from the customizer to provide essay writing services, and the two parties signed what seemed to be a commission contract. However, if we dig deeper, we will find that there is actually a contract relationship between them. A contract means that the contractor completes certain work according to the requirements of the customer and deliversWork results, a contract in which the customer accepts the work results of the contractor and pays remuneration. As for the content of the contract in which the customizer requests a ghostwriter to write a paper, it means that the customizer pays the ghostwriter, and the ghostwriter delivers the work results to the customizer. The ghostwriter of the paper is actually the contractor, and the customizer of the paper is the customizer. The paper that the ghostwriter independently creates and completes with his own professional knowledge and skills is the work product, and the work product is the intellectual achievement attached to a certain carrier. Of course, if the parties stipulate in the contract that the copyright of the intellectual achievements created by the contractor shall be enjoyed by the client, then the contract is not a simple contract, but a mixed contract that includes an agreement on copyright ownership. According to Article 17 of my country’s Copyright Law, such works are commissioned works under the Copyright Law. Judging from the relevant provisions of my country's Copyright Law, the law does not prohibit commissioning others to create works for the purpose of learning and scientific research.
Since the ghostwritten paper is a commissioned work, you need to figure out who owns the copyright of the ghostwritten paper. As long as you understand the copyright ownership of the commissioned work, the problem will be easily solved. . From the perspective of protecting the rights of authors, my country's Copyright Law stipulates the ownership of copyrights for commissioned works. According to Article 17 of my country’s Copyright Law, the ownership of copyright in commissioned works is divided into two situations. First, the trustee and the client can agree on the ownership of the copyright on their own; second, in the absence of a special agreement between the parties, the legal Provides that copyright belongs to the trustee. This is because the trustee accepts the commission to create the completed work and is the author of the commissioned work. Based on the legislative purpose of protecting authors and encouraging creation, copyright should be granted to a trustee in the absence of an agreement. Of course, while the trustee enjoys copyright, he is also subject to certain restrictions. For example, the trustee should provide the entrusted work to the client for use as agreed, and the client has the right to use it within the agreed scope. If there is no agreed scope of use, the client can use it free of charge within the specific purpose of the commissioned creation. In addition, the trustee should also follow the principles of good faith and non-abuse of rights when exercising copyright, and must not hinder the client's legitimate use.
It is worth mentioning that copyright includes two parts: moral rights and economic rights. When the parties agree on the ownership of the copyright, whether they agree on the ownership of the economic rights in the copyright, or whether they agree on the ownership of the entire copyright, including economic rights including moral rights, is not clearly stipulated in my country's Copyright Law. There are differences in judicial practice and different views in theoretical circles. Some scholars believe that the ownership of copyright can be determined entirely by agreement. Others believe that by referring to the provisions of the Copyright Law on service works and copyright transfer, it can be determined that all property rights in the copyright and personal rights except for the right of signature are included in the copyright. The ownership of copyright can be agreed upon through contract. The author believes that only the property rights of works can be stipulated through contractsThe ownership of the work cannot be determined by agreement, and moral rights have personal attributes and are inseparable from the author.
In fact, what we call moral rights should be the moral rights of the author (personality rights), not the moral rights of the copyright holder. So far, except for China’s copyright law, it is rare to see any country’s copyright law mention the moral rights of copyright holders. Copyright laws in most countries only deal with the moral rights of authors. The British and American copyright concept does not include moral rights, so allowing the client to obtain the entire copyright will not bring about any theoretical contradiction. As far as the general theory of personality rights is concerned, personality rights have the characteristics of being non-transferable, non-inheritable and non-renounceable. The object of personality rights in works is consistent with that of ordinary personality rights, that is, a kind of personality interest. It can be deduced from legal logic that the moral rights of a work are also non-transferable, non-inheritable and non-waivable. Therefore, the separation of the moral rights of a work from the actual creator is against basic legal principles and will only destroy the coordination of the entire legal system, bring confusion to the theoretical research on copyright in our country, and is not conducive to promoting the development and prosperity of our country's cultural and scientific undertakings. It is far from the legislative purpose of the Copyright Law.
Most scholars who believe that the moral rights of a work can be separated from the author make the mistake of confusing the exercise of rights with the transfer (or surrender) of rights. In real life, ghostwriters write papers for others and have them published under their signatures. This is considered by many to be a transfer of the rights of publication and signature by the ghostwriter. This is indeed a misunderstanding. This behavior is essentially a special way for the ghostwriter to exercise his right of publication and signature. Publishing a paper by others is similar to telling others about personal privacy. It is an expression of the ghostwriter's intention to make the paper public. When the ghostwriter hands over the paper to the customer in accordance with the contract and knows that the customer will publish the paper, the ghostwriter (author) has already exercised the right to decide whether to make the work public (the right to publish). Submitting a paper to a journal is an act without will on the part of the customizer. The ghostwriter's agreement to sign someone else's name on his or her work shows that the ghostwriter is willing not to disclose his or her relationship with the work, which is no different from signing a pseudonym. This situation cannot be interpreted as the ghostwriter giving up the right of signature, but can only be interpreted as exercising the right of signature in a special way. If this is considered to be a transfer of authorship rights, wouldn’t it mean that an expert celebrity who agrees to be remunerated in his name has transferred his name rights? Some scholars may worry that if ghostwriters are allowed to exercise their rights of publication and authorship in this special way, It will undoubtedly encourage academic corruption and achieve the ulterior motives of some paper customizers. For example, you can have someone write a thesis and have your name published as a condition for professional title evaluation; you can have someone write a bachelor's thesis, a master's thesis, or even a doctoral thesis and get a degree through thesis defense. This is actually another legal issue. The law has a negative evaluation of these fraudulent practices. For example, Article 17 of the "Degree Regulations of the People's Republic of China" stipulates: Degree-granting units shallIf a degree that has been awarded is found to be in serious violation of the provisions of these regulations, such as fraud or forgery, it may be revoked upon reconsideration by the Degree Evaluation Committee. Just imagine, if the law expressly stipulates that the author can transfer the moral rights of the work such as the right of authorship, it is equivalent to the legal support that the paper customizer can pay for the identity of an author through a contract. In this way, you can become an expert by paying someone to write a few academic papers and monographs, or you can become a painter by paying an art master to paint a few paintings for you, without the risk of being accused of plagiarism. This will not only lead to conflicts between relevant laws, but also deceive the society, fool the readers, and make a mockery of the sacred law.
In the same way, the essay writer allows the customizer to modify the essay he created, and even ignores the distortion and tampering. This is not a violation of the right to modify, The right to protect the integrity of the content of the work is transferred or waived, but the right is exercised in a special way. The right to modify and the right to protect the integrity of the content of the work are not separated from the author. Others have modified or tampered with the work. If the author can tolerate this behavior, it means that the author acknowledges that the changed work is still consistent with his own ideas, and the connection between the work and the author is still under the control of the author. If the author can tolerate such behavior, If the content and form of the work change too much and the author cannot bear it any longer, he can certainly raise objections.
Based on the above introduction, the copyright of reports, speeches and other works written by others, reviewed and finalized by me and published in my own name belongs to the reporter or speaker. I believe that after reading the above introduction, everyone has a certain legal understanding of who owns the copyright of ghostwritten papers. If you still have legal questions in this regard, please consult the lawyers of the Legal Savior Network, and they will provide you with professional help. answer.
