If you have created a piece of work and the work is protected by the Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528), you will be entitled to two types of rights:
- Economic rights
- Moral rights
Economic rights
You are allowed to receive financial reward from others for using your work (e.g. via collective management) as well as prevent or authorise certain uses in relation to your work (e.g. reproduction, public performance, broadcast, translation and adaptation).
If someone exploits any of your work’s exclusive rights without your permission, they may infringe your work’s copyright. Then, you may exercise your rights, which include:
- The right to obtain a court order to stop someone else from continuing to infringe your copyright;
- The right to obtain damages or monetary compensation from someone who has copied your copyright work or exploited any of your copyrighted work’s rights;
- The right to sell your copyright to someone else;
- The right to grant a licence to someone else to use your copyrighted work for royalties and/or other payments; and
- The right to transfer your copyright to someone else as a gift in your will.
Moral rights
In addition, you are also entitled to moral rights, which protect your non-economic interests. Three widely recognised examples of moral rights include: In Hong Kong, two types of copyright owners have moral rights:
- Authors of literary, musical, artistic and dramatic works; and
- Film directors.
| Type of moral right | Your entitlement | Duration |
| Right of attribution | You have the right to be attributed as the author or director of the work. (Right of attribution does not apply to computer programs and computer generated work) | It arises at the same time that your copyright arises and lasts for 50 years after you pass away. |
| Right of integrity | You have the right not to have your work treated in a derogatory manner. (Right of integrity does not apply to computer programs and computer generated work) | It arises at the same time that your copyright arises and lasts for 50 years after you pass away. |
| Right against false attribution | You have the right not to have a literary, artistic, dramatic or musical work falsely attributed to you as the author, or a film falsely attributed to you as the director. | It arises at the same time that your copyright arises and lasts for 20 years after you pass away. |
Transfer of copyright ownership
As an author of a work, you can transfer your copyright ownership to someone else. But the moral rights cannot be sold or transferred, except that the rights of attribution and integrity which may be passed to another person upon the death of the author/director of the work.
It is also important to note that moral rights can be waived (i.e. given up) (section 98 of the Copyright Ordinance (Cap.528)).By waiving moral rights, the author would no longer obtain the benefits conferred by moral rights i.e. the author will not be identified as the author or director of the work in question and/or waives their right to object to derogatory treatment of the work.
Key takeaways
- As an author of a work, you are entitled to two types of rights – economic rights and moral rights.
- Economic rights and moral rights protect your economic interests and non-economic interests respectively.
- While you may transfer your copyright ownership to someone else, your moral rights will continue independently from your economic rights.
- As moral rights can be waived, it is not uncommon for employers to request their employees to waive their moral rights.