RIGHTS

DROITS
D'AUTEUR

& COPYRIGHT
WHAT IT IS ?
Authors rights are a part of copyright
law. The term is a direct translation of the
French droit dauteur.
Authors' rights are internationally protected
by the Berne Convention for the "Protection of
Literary and Artistic Works" and by other
similar treaties.
Author is used in a very wide sense, and
includes composers, artists, sculptors, even
architects and, of course, Film directors and
scriptwriters.
Authors rights have two distinct
1) Economic rights
The economic rights are a property right
which is limited in time and which may be
transferred by the author to other people
(in the same way as any other property) .
They are intended to allow the author to
profit financially from his creation.
So, they include the right to authorize
the public performance of the work in any
way (theatre or festival) and to authorize
the reproduction of the work in any form
(Film, TV channel, DVD).
 2) Moral rights
The protection of the moral rights is based on
the view that a creative work is in some way
an expression of the authors personality:
the moral rights are therefore personal to the
author, and cannot be transferred to another
person (except by testament when the author dies).
The moral rights regime differs greatly
between countries, but typically includes the
right to be identified as the author of the
work and the right to object to any
distortion or mutilation of the work which
would be prejudicial.
And the Copyright so?
What it is?
Copyright is a legal concept,
enacted by most governments, giving the creator
of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually
for a limited time. It is "the right to copy", but
also the right to be credited for the work, to
determine who may adapt the work to other
forms, who may perform the work, who may
financially benefit from it...
It is a form of intellectual property (like the
patent or the trademark) applicable to any
expressible or artistic form or idea.
Because it is a property right (and no moral), it
can be sold. For instance to an investor
 Authors' Rights
Copyright?
You might be confused:
From one continent to another, people speak of
authors right and copyright as if it were the same
thing. Underlying this verbal blur are two differing
conceptions of the authors right, on which the legal
systems in the world are based. So:
"Authors right" droit dauteur in French is founded
on the idea, born in continental Europe, that a work of
creation is intimately linked with its creator and this
work cannot be separated from its author.
The "copyright" concept stems from the Anglo-Saxon
tradition, according to which authors hold a property
right to their creations, that can be traded on the
 Copyright:
difference in the
cinema!
In Hollywood, a scriptwriter or a Director can (or
MUST) sell his copyright in a script or a film to the
Producer.
The producer has therefore the right to decide for
many fields : casting, budget and the most famous-,
the "Final cut".
The author moral right exists, but on a very
restricted area.
-------------------------------------------------------

In Europe, copyright is not used (except in TV or

games). The author (scriptwriter or Director) is
keeping his rights.
He can "transfer" the economic part of the rights to
 A last summary
on:
What is under What is not
What generates
 "Related" Rights!?
Often referred to as neighbouring rights as a more
direct translation of the French Droit Voisins, they are
property rights granted to people who are not the
author of the work in the creative sense of the
term.
Typically these include performers, producers of
music, broadcasting organisations and producers of
films (as opposed to directors or scriptwriters).
Related rights are generally more restricted than
authors rights and fall under the concept of
copyright.
Practically, the "rights" the producer sells to the
Sales agent or the distributor, who can sell again
 By the way: how old is
this story?
We know France invented
the cinema, they have also
invented the "droit d'auteur".
Authors rights are several centuries
old. In the Roman Code, these was
already an article on the "difficulty to
define the author of a non-material
thing".
But Modern authors rights are the
work of a genius, Beaumarchais,
who marked his era with all his battles
for freedom. Basically, at his time,
only actors were sharing the "box-
So, in the cinema,
WHO is Author?
IT DEPENDS ON THE COUNTRY!
Scriptwriter and Director: always, logically
Composer: quite often (FR, UK, DE, BE, IE, ES, IT)
Director of Photography: in some countries
(EE, DE, PL)
Art Director: rarely (EE, NL, PL)
Editor: more rarely (RO, CH)
Main Actors: it happens (not in Europe)
Dialog writer also as well as translators
sometime
 But, as usual,
boundaries are

difficult to draw
Is a sketcher of the story-board an Author?

Is the "Director" of a
TV transmission an Author?

Is the Director of an animal

documentary an Author?
 Who is in charge of
Authors'Rights?
The collective Management Societies
represent the authors in Europe. Some are
famous (and strong & rich) as SACD (FR & BE),
SGAE (ES), SIAE (IT), VG Bild-Kunst & VG Wort
(DE), ZAPA (PL), ALCS & Directors UK
They propose:
contract models,
laws at National level & Directives at European
one,
lawyers in case of lawsuits, non-payment or
plagiarism,
collective systems for gathering the
Well, which Rights generate
revenues?
In many countries Cinema/Public
performance, of course,
But also Video rental and/or sales,
In half of the EU countries when the film is
broadcasted,
In some countries with the VoD incomes,
Rarely on Cable TVs or for Educational use
--------------------
But the amounts are huge: 380 million Euros
in Europe in 2008 for the Audiovisual repertoire
(8,43% of the overall royalties collected)*.
* Source: Cisac And in 2009: 423
 So what exactly are
the Rights in a Film
budget?
We have two different kinds of
Rights:
a) The Rights the producer needs to "buy", for
instance:
the novel of Mr A for a film adaptation,
the song of Ms B for the soundtrack,
the archive material or footage from the
company C.

b) The Rights the producer is giving for the

"artistic side" of the work by the
scriptwriter or the Director (or the composer).
 Some figures?
In an ideal world, Rights should be minimum 5%
and maximum 25% of the budget,
In an ideal world, the Director should receive
20% as Authors' Rights and 80% as Salary,
In an ideal world, the Director should also receive
0,5% of the Theatrical box-office and from 10 to
25 Euros per minute each time his film is
broadcasted (1.200 Euros as average),
In an ideal world, Authors should receive a
percentage every time that a commercial
exploitation of the film is done (cinemas, TV
Channels, VoD, DVD)
BUT we are not in an ideal
Lack of harmonisation!
& Piracy!
a) LACK OF HARMONISATION:
Every country has a different Authors' Rights
system, every Government has a different
approach and the collective societies couldn't
find an agreement So Producers, broadcasters
and distributors are facing and using-, this
complexity and "flexibility".
b) PIRACY:
From 10% to 35% -nobody knows-, is the cost of
the piracy,
HADOPI or ACTA -we know such laws-, are among
the answers to the piracy (downloading but also DVD
piracy),

What is piracy for

some, is
"freedom" for
others:
Freedom to copy and to give artistic works to
anybody,
Freedom to use images and sounds how we
want,
Freedom to use internet as an exchange
network and not as an "on-line shop",
Freedom to store what we want,
Freedom to consider Culture as a non-business
object,
Freedom to see Art as a collective achievement
for all
 By the way, what the Pirate
Party at the European
Parliament proposes?
Todays copyright is out of balance,
and out of tune with the times. It has
turned an entire generation of young
people into criminals in the eyes of the
law, in a futile attempt at stopping
technological development. We are not
just complaining. We want to explain
why this issue is about preserving
fundamental rights on the internet, and
not just about getting free films or pop
music. The Pirate Party doesnt want to
abolish copyright, we want to reform it.
For example, the moral rights of authors
would remain unchanged, but all non-
From the other side, some
Quotes
"It is not an easy thing to create a
sensation of homogeneity among
people who express their creativity in
such different ways. Authors' Rights is
one." Tom Tykwer (Germany)
"If there's nobody to invest in films
because of piracy, there will be no
films in the future." Grard Krawczyk
(France)
"I believe in the importance of
internet, but I don't think that we live
in a society that can afford to have
free films". Costa-Gavras (Greece)
"We will not compromise on the
protection of copyright for European
 So? The Show
must go on!
But because cinema is both an art and
an industry, the artistic expression
of authors is not easy. It's very difficult
to do something new. Not something
revolutionary, just something new.
And Authors' Rights is the only way we
have today to protect this "new", and
to protect the authors.