Do copyright owners have the right to modify an author’s work?

In many cases, after a work is created, it is not only directly exploited by the author but also transferred to other organizations or individuals for commercial use and exploitation. In such cases, the author and the copyright holder may be two different entities, leading to many questions about the scope of each party’s rights. One of the frequently asked questions is whether the copyright holder has the right to modify or change the content of the work created by the author. This article by VCD will help you.

Distinguishing between author and copyright holder

According to the Vietnamese Intellectual Property Law, an author is the person who directly creates a work through their intellectual labor. The author must always be an individual, because the creative activity of a work is linked to human creative capacity.

Meanwhile, the copyright owner is the entity that holds the rights to a work and has the right to exploit and use the work according to the law. The copyright owner can be:

• The author himself/herself;

• An organization or individual who commissioned the author to create the work;

• An organization or individual who signed a contract with the author to create the work;

• An organization or individual to whom the copyright has been transferred or assigned.

Thus, in many cases, the author and the copyright owner are not the same person. For example, a design employee creates a work as part of an assigned task at a company; the employee is the author, while the company may be the copyright owner of that work according to an agreement or legal regulations. Distinguishing between these two entities is important because each entity will have different rights to the work.

Does the copyright owner have the right to modify the author’s work?

According to Vietnamese Intellectual Property Law, copyright includes moral rights and property rights. Moral rights are linked to the author – the person who directly created the work – while property rights may belong to the author or other organizations or individuals who are the copyright owners.

One of the author’s important moral rights is the right to protect the integrity of the work. Accordingly, the author has the right to prevent others from modifying, abridging, or distorting the work in any way if doing so harms their honor and reputation. This right is inherent to the author and, in principle, cannot be transferred to others.

Therefore, the copyright owner does not automatically have the right to modify the content of the work if the modification changes the content, meaning, or distorts the spirit of the work. If the modification affects the author’s honor or reputation, that act may be considered an infringement of the author’s moral rights.

However, in practice, editing or modifying a work is still possible if the author agrees or if this right is clearly stipulated in the creative contract, usage contract, or copyright transfer agreement. In addition, technical edits such as correcting spelling errors, changing the format or layout for publication are usually accepted if they do not alter the content and meaning of the work.

Thus, although copyright owners have the right to exploit the work economically, when making modifications, they must still respect the author’s moral rights, especially the right to protect the integrity of the work.

What legal issues can arise from modifying a work?

During the exploitation and use of a work, modifications or adjustments can give rise to several legal issues if not done according to regulations. First, modifying a work can infringe upon the author’s moral rights. According to Vietnamese Intellectual Property Law, authors have the right to protect the integrity of their works and prevent others from modifying, abridging, or distorting them if doing so harms their honor and reputation.

Furthermore, modifications to a work can lead to disputes over the scope of its use, especially when the contract between the author and the copyright holder does not clearly specify the right to modify or adapt the work.

Additionally, in cases where a work has already been copyrighted, significant modifications to its content may not be protected under the issued copyright certificate. In such cases, to ensure legal protection of the new version of the work, the copyright holder may need to register the copyright for the modified version.

This concludes the article “Do copyright holders have the right to modify an author’s work?” that VCD has provided to you. We hope this article is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

FAQ