What is the difference between the right to modify and the right to protect the integrity of a work?

We all know that although our country has 5,000 years of splendid culture, the modern cultural industry is not very developed. At the same time, as long as very good Works appear, many creators will imitate and learn from them. At the same time, there are also people who have modified If someone has the right to make modifications, then how to distinguish the right to modify and the right to protect the integrity of the work. The editor of Legal Savior.com has compiled relevant content. I hope it will be helpful to you.

What is the difference between the right to modify and the right to protect the integrity of the work

1. Distinction at the theoretical level

(1) Protected objects

Modification Copyright is not the right to protect the content, expression and ideas of a work from being altered, but the right to protect the copyright holder’s creative freedom.

The right to protect the integrity of a work is the right to protect the work from distortion and tampering. Distortion and tampering are both derogatory terms, and what they have in common is that they both misinterpret the ideas that the copyright owner wants to present to readers. Therefore, it can be seen that protecting the integrity of a work is to protect the identity of the copyright owner's ideas and the ideas expressed in the work, and to exclude others from modifying the work, which may cause readers to misunderstand the work and the copyright owner's ideas.

(2) Rights content

The content of the right to modify includes two aspects: first, The copyright owner makes modifications to the work himself. Copyright owners can modify their works at will without being restricted by time and space. However, a copyright owner's right to modify his or her work should be limited to the extent that it does not infringe the rights of others. The second is to authorize others to modify the work. However, others' exercise of the right to modify must be carried out in accordance with the copyright owner's requirements and must not violate the copyright owner's will.

Protecting the integrity of the work includes preventing the work from being distorted or tampered with. Although our country has not clearly stated in the law the extent to which distortion and tampering can cause infringement of the right to protect the integrity of works, most scholars in my country believe that damage to the reputation of the copyright holder is the standard for judging infringement of the right to protect the integrity of works.

(3) Infringement object

From the perspective of the infringement object, the infringementThe copyright owner's right to modification usually does not change the inner expression of the work, but mainly changes its external form of expression; infringement of the right to protect the integrity of the work is exactly the opposite, and it does not require the change of the external expression of the work. Rather, it manifests itself as a change in the inner expression of the work. It can be seen from this that the infringement of the two rights is not necessarily based on the same act, that is to say, infringement of the right to modify does not necessarily infringe the right to protect the integrity of the work.

2. Distinction in practice

Although in practice there are a large number of simultaneous prosecutions for infringement of the right to modify and the right to protect the integrity of the work, the courts often distinguish between the two in actual judgments.

First of all, protecting the integrity of a work protects the content, views, and themes of the work from distortion or tampering. Therefore, if the external form of the work is only altered, deleted or replaced, and does not reach the level of distorting or tampering with the views expressed in the original work, without authorization or legal basis, the defendant has only infringed upon the plaintiff's modifications. rights without infringing the right to protect the integrity of the work.

Secondly, modification behavior is the behavior of the actor to modify the work subjectively and intentionally. For unintentional changes, such as production, proofreading errors, printing Errors, etc. will not infringe upon the copyright holder's right to modification. However, if the quality of the work is poor due to modifications made by proofreaders and other staff of the publishing house and the social evaluation of the copyright owner is reduced, it should be deemed as infringement of the copyright owner's right to protect the integrity of the work.

In fact, from the above analysis, we can see that although understood from the literal meaning, it seems that the right to modify and the right to protect the integrity of the work are two conflicting powers. But in fact, they are not both rights legally owned by the creator. The application situations are different, so there is no conflict. If a conflict occurs, it is recommended to consult a lawyer. The Legal Savior Network also provides online lawyer consultation services. We welcome your legal consultation.