Moral Rights: Diagnosis and Rehabilitation

Abstract

The United States offers some of the strongest intellectual property laws in the world. Why then does U.S. law grant such weak moral rights protection? The answer is not simply political apathy. Rather, it stems from a long-standing perception that moral rights conflict with fundamental American cultural, historical, and legal traditions. The first part of this manuscript presents a brief history of moral rights law. The next part examines the varying forces that have contributed to the poor reception of moral rights in the United States. After an examination of the limited protection of the Visual Artists Rights Act, the paper shows that moral rights are more compatible with American socio-legal theory than currently believed. This article concludes that the more harmoniously moral rights are viewed, the more likely courts will interpret them less restrictively and Congress will offer less resistance to expanding moral rights protections.