Historical Traces of Moral Rights in Common Law

Abstract

The paper aims to track the traces of moral rights in common law, since it is a usual misconception that common law system of copyright protection is incompatible with the moral rights and the rights were consequently adopted to formally satisfy the international legal framework. The paper firstly outlines the regulatory context in which the rights comparable to continental jurisdictions had the chance to be acknowledged. Then it proceeds to an analysis of doctrinal sources as well as case-law of the highest judicial authorities that have touched upon these questions and developed comparable solutions to the jurisdictions traditionally protecting moral rights.