2. What Are Intellectual Property Rights?
F. The Emergence and Perseverence of Rights Management
Although the concept of the natural rights (often called "moral rights") of the creator emerged before the 1700s, the Enlightenment gave it form, sustenance, and expression. The earliest organization formed to strengthen and enforce a creator’s natural rights was founded in France in the late 1700s when Caron de Beaumarchais, the author of The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, joined with fellow authors to create the Societé des Auteurs Dramatiques, an authors’ rights society. The Societé worked for changes in compensation practices,32 promoted moral and social rights for its members, and sought to ensure that these rights were guaranteed in France’s code of law.33
Beaumarchais’s early efforts were motivated by unfair remuneration practices and lack of control over his creative works. These issues remain primary incentives for the development of rights management organizations, but over the last century they have been bolstered by the influence of technology and its effect on various creative sectors. The music industry, for instance, was transformed by the invention of the phonograph and radio (and later motion pictures and television). Before these technologies were developed, the main source of income for musicians and composers was the sale of sheet music and live performances. Now the income generated from these original sources is truly minuscule compared to the royalties generated from radio airplay, motion picture soundtracks, television broadcasts, the sale of tapes and CDs, and (perhaps soon) from Internet use.
Technology continues to hasten the pace of development and the push for rights management solutions. The emergence of the Internet as a popular access and distribution technology is presenting new challenges in rights management. The ease of copying in an electronic environment, combined with instantaneous delivery and worldwide distribution channels, make rights and usage issues omnipresent in this medium. In response, both new and established intellectual property management agencies are addressing rights issues in this medium.
| Chapter 2: What Are Intellectual Property Rights? | |
| A. Intellectual Property Rights in the United States | |
| C. The Nature of Rights in Copyright | |
| D. The Complexity of Rights in an Electronic Environment | |
| E. Current Rights Management Methods | |
| Notes | |