Mira T. Sundara Rajan: Technology Meets Art: "Moral Rights" and New Artistic Creation

Mira T. Sundara Rajan is Herschel Smith Fellow in Intellectual Property Law at the University of London, and Lecturer in Copyright Law.

ABSTRACT:
The technologies of the "Digital Age" have brought new creative possibilities to the arts. All of these developments have profound implications for the traditional understanding of artistic creativity in Western culture, and its place in social life. Digital technology has brought into doubt fundamental concepts of authorship, creative expression, and the nature of the work.
This talk will consider the impact of digital technology on an aspect of copyright law known as the Òmoral rightÓ of the author. Moral rights are concerned with the legal protection of the personal and cultural interests of authors and, as such, their importance for authors and artists transcends the issue of commercial gain through their work. The technological changes of the Digital Era have brought great conceptual and practical uncertainty to the area of moral rights, leading to a degree of neglect in international copyright law, and in copyright law and practice around the world. However, the developments of the Digital Age actually signify a period in which the personal interests of creators have acquired a new importance Ð a fact that should be reflected in the international treatment of moral rights. This talk will assess the state of moral rights in current copyright practice, clarify the implications of new technologies for authorsÕ ÒmoralÓ interests, and suggest an approach to accommodating fundamental social change in this important area of the law.

About Mira T. Sundara Rajan:
Mira T. Sundara Rajan is Herschel Smith Fellow in Intellectual Property Law at the University of London, and Lecturer in Copyright Law. She is the author of two forthcoming books, Copyright and Culture in Transition: A Study of Authors' Rights After Socialism, and Developing Countries and the International Copyright Regime.

http://www.law.ubc.ca/faculty/Sundara_Rajan/


This talk is co-sponsored by the McGill University Faculty of Law