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Copyright is a bundle of rights – it's not just one right, but rather is made up of a number of rights, all of which can be controlled by the copyright owner.
Copyright owners’ rights are a fundamental part of the copyright system.
Photo: Garry Knight. CC BY 2.0. Full attribution information below.
To understand how copyright works it is important to understand the rights that make up copyright protection, and how they vary depending on the type of material. There are three types of rights in copyright:
Economic rights
The main group of rights granted by the Copyright Act allow the copyright owner to restrict the reuse of their material by other people without their consent. These rights are often referred to as ‘economic rights’.
The copyright owner has the right to prevent uses that would infringe copyright in their material. They also have the right to authorise others to use the work by granting a licence: Copyright licensing or by transferring or assigning their rights. And in some cases copyright owners also have the right to be paid for the use of the work (e.g. through royalties from statutory licences).
Economic rights vary depending on whether the material is a work or other subject matter. The same rights apply to literary, dramatic and musical works whereas artistic rights have fewer rights. The economic rights in other subject-matter are similar to the economic rights in Works but they aren’t exactly the same. The economic rights also depend on whether the material is a sound recording, film, broadcast or a published edition.
Economic rights for literary, dramatic and musical works
The copyright owner of literary, dramatic and musical works have the exclusive right to:
- Reproduce the work in a material form
- Publish the work
- Perform the work in public
- Communicate the work to the public e.g. broadcast it or make it available online
- Make an adaptation of the work
Economic rights for artistic works
Artistic works do not have the public performance or adaptation rights that literary, dramatic and musical works enjoy. Owners of artistic works have the exclusive right to:
- Reproduce the work in a material form
- Publish the work
- Communicate the work to the public e.g. make it available online.
Economic rights in sound recordings and films
The copyright owner of sound recordings and films have the exclusive right to:
- Make a copy of the recording or film
- Cause the recording to be heard in public or the film to be seen and/or heard in public
- Communicate the recording or film to the public e.g. broadcast it or make it available online.
Copyright owners of sound recordings also have the right to enter into a commercial rental arrangement in respect of the recording.
Economic rights in broadcasts
Copyright owners of television and sound broadcasts have the exclusive right to:
- make a film of a television broadcast and copy that film
- make a sound recording of a sound broadcast or a television broadcast and copy that recording
- re-broadcast a broadcast
- communicate a broadcast to the public e.g. make it available online.
Economic rights in published editions of works
Owners of published editions have the right to make a facsimile copy of the edition e.g. photocopy it.
Moral rights
Most copyright-protected works also attract moral rights. These rights allow creators to take certain actions to preserve and protect their connection with their work. In Australia, there are three moral rights:
- The right of attribution – ie the right to be identified as the author when the material is reproduced or communicated
- The right not to be falsely attributed – ie the right to prevent someone else falsely claiming they are the author of the material
- The right of integrity – ie the right to prevent the material from being treated in a way that would prejudice or harm the author’s honour or reputation, such as its distortion, mutilation or alteration.
Only individuals have moral rights: the author of literary works, dramatic works, musical works and artistic works or the director, producer or screenwriter of films. Where two or more people are joint authors of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or two or more people were the principal directors, producers or screenwriters of a film each has moral rights individually. The consent of one person to any act or omission affecting their moral rights does not affect the moral rights of the other moral rights holders.
In Australia moral rights occur automatically when a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or a film is created. They apply in addition to any other rights and in relation to use of the whole work or a substantial part of it.
Authors and filmmakers cannot assign, transfer or sell their moral rights. But they can give consent for their work to be used in specific ways. You can also use material in ways that are reasonable without breaching moral rights eg not attributing the author if they are not identified.
Performer's rights
Performers also receive royalties for the use of recordings of their live performances and have the right to stop unauthorised recordings e.g. bootlegging.