Empirical Research On Compensation For Mental Distress For Infringement Of Moral Rights

Copyright is a kind of special right which includes property rights and moral rights, the protection of each right can’t be neglected. But in the past for a long period of time, people are more concerned about property rights, researching on the moral rights is neglected. In recent years, as people focus on personal rights, such as personal freedom and dignity, more and more attention have been paid to protection of the moral rights of copyright, in which the system of compensation for spiritual damages as the protection of moral rights of copyright is increasingly valued.From the view of the protection objects of moral rights of copyright, it reflects spirit rather than property. Work is the result of mental creation which is equal to the spirit world of the author. It’s similar to infringement of author’s spirit world while infringing the author’s work. From the perspective of the establishment of moral rights of copyright, it aims at promoting the social public’s respect for the author’s inner emotion and protecting author’s spiritual interests in order to encourage people to create. It’s inevitable to cause the mental pain or mental benefit loss when the moral rights of copyright is infringed which is consistent with the requirement of the compensation for spiritual damage, therefore, while the moral rights of copyright is infringed, using compensation for spiritual damage to protect the moral rights of copyright is reasonable.Although most of the scholars support the viewpoint of infringement behavior for moral rights of copyright which can cause the mental damage and should be given compensation, in the judicial practice, the compensation for spiritual damage of infringement of the moral rights of copyright rarely get the judge’s support, in some cases, even if the judge support the claim of compensation for spiritual damage, the compensation amount is also controversial. Through revealing the basic theory, combined with empirical analysis, this article try to figure out the problems in practical application of compensation for spiritual damages to infringement of moral rights of copyright and puts forward some improvement methods. The argument is as follows, first of all, by analyzing the basic nature of compensation for spiritual damage and moral rights of copyright, draw a conclusion that spiritual damage compensation system suitable for infringement act of moral right of copyright. Secondly, by analyzing the data of cases of spiritual damage for infringement of morals right of copyright nearly10years, to understand the basic situation of the cases and its characteristics. Thirdly, through the analysis of the data, find out the reasons why we meet so many problems in juridical practice. Finally, put forward a sound proposal based on the empirical analysis, with a view to provide help for compensation for the infringement of moral rights of copyright in judicial practice.