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The copyright

by Florence Gagnon

Copyright is composed of two crucial elements: the moral rights and economic rights (a legal term of 70 years in Europe and 50 years for members of the Organization of the Intellectual Property, from the date when the work officially came under protection).

See:

www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.fr/

The Moral Rights

This law protects the author (author of text and / or sheet music in this particular context) and allows for the right to his or her name, the quality, and the work to be respected.

The author reserves the right to disclose his or her work to the public, and the right is then transmitted to an offspring after his or her death.

Patrimonial Law

This right covers the exploitation of the work protected.

In this category of rights, there are main components including:

The right of mechanical reproduction: a.k.a. DRM, it is the right to allow the reproduction of the works in a public or private context.

The right to perform the work in public: for this law, the author must consent or decline to the use or public performance of the work in question.

Authors' societies (SACEM, Socan, MCPS ...) allocate the rights to the holders of mechanical reproduction rights and the rights of public performance.

These rights are subject to termination (see publishing contract and transfer music).