moral rights
noun · Urheberpersönlichkeitsrecht
The Urheberpersönlichkeitsrecht protects the author’s personal bond with the work: whether it is published at all, recognition of authorship, and defence against distortion. German law treats these as inalienable, so an English buy-out clause purporting to waive moral rights, routine in commissioning agreements, does not achieve in Germany what it achieves at home.
Which translation, when
Why
Moral rights translate as Urheberpersönlichkeitsrecht, and the pair marks one of the sharpest divides between German and common-law copyright. German law sees the author bound to his work by a personal tie that survives every commercial arrangement, and it protects that tie through three core rights placed at the front of the Act. The author decides whether the work is published at all and in what form it first appears. He may demand recognition of his authorship and determine whether and how he is designated on copies. And he may prohibit distortions or other impairments of the work that are capable of endangering his legitimate intellectual or personal interests. The consequence that matters in drafting is inalienability. These rights remain with the author; they pass on death but cannot be transferred among the living, and they cannot be waived wholesale. Commissioning agreements drafted on English or American assumptions routinely contain a clause by which the author waives all moral rights, and translated into German that clause promises something the law does not permit; what German practice can do is agree in advance how particular rights will be exercised, for instance that a photographer will not be credited in a defined campaign or that software may be adapted, and such agreements are effective only within limits and never as a blanket surrender. For the translator two practical flashpoints recur, the designation of the author and the alteration of the work, both of which need express contractual treatment rather than a waiver; the commercial side, the grant of rights of use, is held by the copyright entry.
Typical mistakes
- Moral rights are inalienable in German law, so a translated waiver clause does not achieve what an English buy-out achieves at home.
- The right to recognition of authorship can be shaped by agreement but not abolished, so drafting that simply removes credit overreaches.
- Distortion of the work can be prohibited even by an author who granted extensive rights of use, so a broad licence does not settle the point.
What matters
Adapting a commissioning agreement for German law: the text should name the Urheberpersönlichkeitsrecht, replace any blanket waiver with concrete agreements on credit and alteration, and keep those clauses apart from the grant of rights of use.
What the machine misses
Automatic output for moral rights produces moralische Rechte, a phrase German copyright law does not use, and the institute is the Urheberpersönlichkeitsrecht, covering publication, recognition of authorship and protection against distortion and remaining with the author; the calque also lets a waiver clause pass that German law will not enforce as written.
Examples
| moral rights | Urheberpersönlichkeitsrecht |
| the right of publication | das Veröffentlichungsrecht |
| recognition of authorship | Anerkennung der Urheberschaft |
| distortion of the work | Entstellung des Werkes |
More notes on these sections
copyright Urheberrecht