Imposed Obligations (Contractual and Non-Contractual) on Authors’ Moral Rights in view of Contractability Theory in Iran and the European Union

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student in International Trade and Investment Law, Faculty of Law, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

2 Professor, Department of Intellectual Property Law, Faculty of Law, University of Tarbiat Modares, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Moral rights are traditionally conceived as a reflection of an author’s personality, beliefs, and ideas. Nonetheless, while safeguarding the author’s personality, reputation, dignity, and creativity as embodied in literary and artistic works, these rights remain distinct from general personality rights inherent in every human being. This distinction precludes absolute approaches to their features -particularly the principle of inalienability - and thereby grants authors a degree of autonomy in determining the fate of their intellectual creations. Consequently, under certain conditions, authors may delegate the exercise of moral rights, waive them to a limited extent, or define the framework for the exploitation of the work, including permissible modifications. However, the exploitation of literary and artistic works is inevitably subject to obligations imposed either contractually, through agreements between the parties, or non-contractually, through mandatory rules and considerations of public order. Such obligations may, in practice, reshape the scope of moral rights and restrict the author’s freedom in determining the destiny of intellectual outputs. This research, through an analytical-descriptive approach, examines both contractual and non-contractual obligations affecting authors’ moral rights in Iran and the European Union. The findings demonstrate that, notwithstanding the theoretical acceptance of the contractability of moral rights in both legal systems, authors remain bound by general contractual rules as well as mandatory provisions and considerations of public order and technical regulation in their agreements.

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References

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History

  • Receive Date: 07 July 2025
  • Revise Date: 05 September 2025
  • Accept Date: 08 November 2025

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