The Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000

Moral rights
The Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000 expressly protects moral rights instead of
economic interests.
These rights are personal to the authors of a work, designed to protect the author’s honour
and reputation.
These rights cannot be assigned or licensed.
Moral rights are personal rights that belong to the creators.
Moral rights are distinct from copyright rights – which are essentially economic rights and can
be owned by some other entity other than the originator.
Moral rights can only be owned by individuals.
The Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000 provides three rights to architects
(amongst others):
• the right of attribution of authorship
• the right to take action against false attribution of authorship
• the right of integrity of authorship .
Architectural drawings, a model of the building and a building are each ‘artistic works’ as
defined and are covered by these new provisions.
Right of attribution
The right of attribution of authorship requires that the author be identified whenever an
artistic work is ‘reproduced, published, exhibited or communicated to the public’.
The major control is that the author does not have to be identified if it was not ‘reasonable in
all the circumstances’ to identify the author.
The Australian Institute of Architects and the Advertising Council of Australia have jointly
adopted a guideline and the principle identified in the guideline is as follows:
Where a visual, spoken or written reference to a work of architecture is integral to the
purpose of an advertisement, in any media, the architect for the work is to be clearly
identified.
The right of attribution lasts as long as the copyright in the work, that is, 50 years after the
death of the author.
An important consequence of the ownership of moral rights occurs in the employer-employee
relationship. An ’employee author’ will have the moral rights in his or her work, not the
employer.
It is therefore quite possible for one person to have the moral rights in a work and for the
exclusive rights of copyright to be held by another person or a corporate entity or by an
employer.
It should be remembered that moral rights are different to copyright. You retain the moral
rights in work you design even if you grant your client the copyright in the work.
In fact, you cannot transfer or give away your moral rights at all.
You can only consent to specified infringements of your moral rights.
False attribution
The Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act defines what constitutes false attribution. In
relation to artistic works they are said to be:
• affixing, inserting or using in or on a work, or a reproduction of a work, a person’s
name in such a way as to falsely imply that the person or a corporation is the author
of the work or the author of the adaptation
• dealing with a work, or a reproduction of such a work, knowing that the name affixed
or inserted is not that of the author’s, or that the work is not an adaptation of the
author’s
• performing in public such a work or transmitting such a work, knowing that the name
affixed or inserted is not that of the author’s, or that the work is not an adaptation of
the author’s.
The act makes it illegal to falsely attribute the architect for a project.
While this protects an architect against their work being credited to others, it also requires
architects to be scrupulously honest when claiming authorship of work.
Projects that result from joint ventures, associations or similar arrangements should
acknowledge joint authorship.
The work of some employees may require acknowledgment.
To not acknowledge joint authorship without consent could be considered false attribution
implied by omission.
The introduction of moral rights brings with it the need for architects to be completely honest
when claiming authorship of architectural works.
Notifying the original designer
The owner is required to notify the original designer that alterations to or demolition of a
building is proposed. The notification must give the original designer three weeks to decide if
they wish to:
• make a record of the building before alteration or demolition
• consult in good faith with the owner about the alterations or demolition
There is a stipulated period time for the original designer to respond (three weeks).
Consulting the original designer
If the original designer requests that consultations regarding the alterations to or demolition
of the building is undertaken, these should also be completed within the second period of
three weeks.
While the act states that these consultations should be undertaken ‘in good faith’ there is no
legal obligation on the owner to incorporate any ideas or suggestions the original designer
may make during the consultations.
Clearly, however, it is in the best interests of the profession and architecture for the views of
the original designer to be taken into account, where possible, in the design of the proposed
alterations or demolition.
Moral rights: the right of integrity
An author has the right not to have his or her work subject to ‘derogatory treatment’.
‘Derogatory treatment’ is defined as a material distortion or alteration, a mutilation, or
anything else that is prejudicial to the honour and reputation of the author.
Importantly for architects, the following matters are said not to constitute infringement of the
right of integrity:
• destroying or removing a moveable artistic work, if the author was first given a
reasonable opportunity to move the work
• changing or destroying the structure or part of the structure to which an artistic work
is affixed
• changing or demolishing a building that is an artistic work
• preserving a work in good faith
It is important to appreciate that an action which does not distort or alter the work can still be
derogatory treatment within the meaning of the act.
The point is whether what has been done is prejudicial to the honour or reputation of the
author and whether it is unreasonable in all the circumstances.
The overriding requirement is that the derogatory treatment of the work is ‘prejudicial to the
author’s honour or reputation’.
Special application to buildings
A change in, or relocation, demolition, or destruction of a building will not infringe the moral
right of integrity of authorship in the building or in any plans or instructions used in the
construction of the building or a part of the building if the owner of the building takes certain
steps.
First, the owner must make reasonable enquiries to discover the identity and location of the
author or a person representing the author.
Secondly, if this is successful or the author is already known, the owner must give notice in
writing and in accordance with the regulations, of the owner’s intention to carry out the
change, relocation, demolition or destruction and giving three weeks, from the date of the
notice, for the person to whom the notice was given, to seek access to the work to make a
record of it or consult in good faith with the owner about the owner’s proposals.
If that person indicates within the three-week period that he or she wants access to the work,
the owner must give the person a reasonable opportunity to have access within a further
period of three weeks.
For Moral Rights in relation to Landscape Architects, also refer to Australian Institute
of Landscape Architects Practice Note 5 (which is based on a Summary of the Act and
AIA notes). A copy is provided on CloudDeakin.

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