Do We Really Need Moral Rights Protection? An Empirical Legal Study Based on the Perceptions Regarding Attribution Rights and a Recent Moral Rights Controversy in India

Abstract:     
This work explores the need for moral rights protection from a societal point of view. It proceeds under the presumption that the success of any legislation depends on the wider public acceptance of rights and duties promoted by that legislation. While the concept of moral rights has been a subject of analysis in many legal works and international negotiation forums, hardly any empirical enquiries have attempted to explore how the public perceive those rights. Such empirical enquiries are critical as many national legislatures have been subject to intense lobbying by politically and economically powerful groups under the disguise of 'public' interest to prevent any (stronger) protection of moral rights. The present work takes an exploratory step in this direction by engaging in an empirical legal enquiry, on the backdrop of a recent moral rights controversy in India. The quantitative elements in the present study include data from an empirical survey conducted in India. The qualitative elements include the analysis of the controversy in India as a case study and the socio-legal analysis of the various issues involved. The findings from the empirical survey illustrate high public support for attribution rights. The analysis of the legal issues involved in the controversy brings forward interesting insights from a comparative perspective. Though India belongs to the category of 'copyright countries', it is generally perceived by legal scholars as a country with high moral rights protection. But the present study shows that even strong moral rights protection afforded by law might be defeated by other social factors. The study argues for capacity building at various levels for realising meaningful protection of moral rights. While the study relies primarily on the findings from the empirical survey in India and the recent controversy, the problems and the possible solutions discussed in the work are of relevance to many other nations.

Keywords: moral rights, empirical legal study, attribution rights, india, 3 idiots controversy, five point someone, copyright, indian copyright law, law and society

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