Today, the works are present in all areas of our reality. In this sense, it is common, for example, to find famous works of art in advertising campaigns or in commercial promotional products, these commercial uses being made possible by the passage of such works into the public domain.
Intellectual property attributes moral and economic rights to authors over the works of their creation.
To this effect, moral rights are those rights of a personal nature that correspond exclusively to the authors of the work, they are unrenounceable and inalienable rights, which accompany the author throughout his life and some of them also to his heirs upon his death.
By virtue of these rights, it corresponds to the author:
- Decide whether and in what form their work should be disseminated.
- Determine whether such disclosure is to be made under his or her name, under a pseudonym or sign, or anonymously.
- Demand recognition of his status as the author of the work.
- To demand respect for the integrity of the work and to prevent any deformation, modification, alteration or attack against it that could be detrimental to its legitimate interests or detrimental to its reputation.
- Modify the work respecting the rights acquired by third parties and the requirements for the protection of cultural assets.
- Withdraw the work from commerce, due to a change in its intellectual or moral convictions, after compensation for damages to the holders of exploitation rights.
- Access to the unique or rare copy of the work, when it is in the possession of another, in order to exercise the right of disclosure or any other right to which he is entitled.
On the other hand, economic rights are those economic rights that are transferable and limited in time. These rights include the so-called exploitation rights, which cannot be used without the consent of their owner, and are as follows:
- Reproduction: For example, photocopying, printing, digitizing, scanning, copying to an external memory or any other device, downloading a file, uploading a file to a server.
- Distribution: For example, sell, rent, lend, but always refers to a physical or printed medium.
- Public communication: The making available of content to a plurality of persons. For example, stage performances, art exhibitions, projections of films and audiovisual works, radio or cable retransmissions, presentations at conferences, linking, embedding, embedding documents or videos in most cases, and in general, providing access to digital content through networks and platforms.
- Transformation: For example, translations, adaptations and other modifications resulting in new content.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the exclusivity of exploitation rights has limits and exceptions. One of the limits is the time limit, since these rights have a term of duration that, when elapsed, implies their extinction and the passage of the works to the public domain, being able to be used freely and free of charge, although with acknowledgment of authorship and respect for the integrity of the work. Each country has its own terms of duration of rights. In Spain, the Intellectual Property Law (LPI) establishes a term of seventy (or eighty) years from their disclosure, and seventy years from their creation if they have not been disclosed.
Therefore, intellectual property grants the exclusive rights of a work to its owners until it enters the public domain. This entry into the public domain implies a kind of expiration of the rights, which become common goods, free for the use of all, but always respecting the moral rights of paternity and integrity. In this sense, commercial uses of works are possible as long as they enter the public domain.
This temporary limitation of rights aims to ensure a balance between the protection of the interests of the author, his heirs or successors in title, and those of society, protecting, on the one hand, access to culture, and, on the other hand, promoting literary and artistic creation by allowing other artists, writers, composers or filmmakers to build on pre-existing works without the need to request authorization.
This publication does not constitute legal advice.
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