Authors, Attribution, and Integrity: Examining Moral Rights in the United States

Post publish date: April 24, 2019

The Copyright Office released its Moral Rights Report, which “presents an extensive review of the U.S. moral rights regime, exploring the current state of attribution and integrity interests ÛÒ particularly with respect to legal and technological changes since the United States joined the Berne Convention thirty years ago. ” Following hearings and reviews of public comments, the Report concludes that the U.S. moral rights framework is adequate, “despite there being some room for improvement, ” and suggests possible avenues for strengthening the framework, including amending the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) and the Lanham Act, expanding authors’ recourse for removal or alteration of copyright management information in section 1202, and adopting a federal right of publicity law.