On The Nature Of Author's Rights

According to the Copyright Law of China, copyright is consisted of author's rights and property rights. There is different understanding about the nature of author's rights and it's disputed on whether author's rights could be apart from the subject. The thesis establishes the central argument that author's rights is one of rights of status through the discussion about the related theory and practice.The paper is made up of the forward and the text. The text is divided into five parts:Part I outlines the concept and the character of author's rights, and introduces its origin and historical developments. Author's right of civil law system and copyright of common law system are essentially different in the legislation ideas due to the difference in their philosophy and values.Part II comments on several understanding about the nature of author's rights. The negative theory which considers that author's rights not part of personal rights is short of evidence. Copyright is a group of rights, which includes author's rights and property rights. Rights of personality and copyright have a close relationship, but the theory of personal rights confuses the concept of Personality. The paper discusses the essential difference between rights of personality and rights of status, and indicates that author's rights is not rights of personality, but one of rights of status.Part III discusses the problem whether author's right could be apart from the subject in the circumstances of assignment, succession and abandon. Author's rights is not able to be the object of succession, but ends with the author's death. And it is not able to be abandoned either. The words in foreign instances of legislation have different signification. Theories about authors transfer, inherit or give up the rights are held to be inadmissible. The features that not separate with the subject show the nature of rights of status.Part IV considers some concrete problems about the four functions of author's rights. For example, the author's conducts such as not to issue the works, not to signature on the works are not evidences of abandoning his rights, but not exercising the rights. And the conducts such as allow the publisher to issue the works, sign other people's name on the works are not evidences of transferring the rights, but just exercising the rights. All the examples embody the nature of author's rights.Part V investigates the nature and the content of commissioned works, and argues that: the consigner acquires the author's right with the status of author. The legal effect is that the copyright he acquired includes the author's right. It's a complete misunderstanding that author's right could be settled in the contract. It is decided on the nature that author's right is not to separate with the subject without exception.