Waiver of moral rights in copyright law: what Bangladesh can learn from the UK approach?

Abstract

The provisions pertaining to moral rights were included in the copyright law of the United Kingdom (UK) as a consequence of the enactment of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA). The UK has included a comprehensive waiver of the moral rights clause in CDPA, although the Berne Convention provides no definitive guidance on this issue. In contrast, the Copyright Act of Bangladesh, enacted in 2000, has a provision for moral rights compliant with the Berne Convention. While Bangladesh has maintained full compliance with the Berne Convention in regard to moral rights, the Copyright Act, 2000 contains no specific provision regarding the waiver of moral rights. There is no doubt, however, that the explicit clause addressing the waiver of moral rights in the UK’s copyright legislation offers authors and publishers significant benefits. Because retaining ambiguity or grey areas in the law, such as Bangladesh’s copyright statute, might generate unnecessary confusion and impediments to the author’s freedom of choice. From this perspective, this article will attempt to analyse the UK’s approach to waiving moral rights, given that both countries share exact origins in copyright legislation. This article will also discuss whether the possible insertion of a waiver provision to the copyright statute of Bangladesh will be advantageous and beneficial to authors and publishers.