Craig and Dhonchak on A Feminist Theory of Moral Rights, Creative Agency, and Attribution @craigcarys @AnupriyaDh_19 @Elgar_Law @OsgoodeNews @NLUDofficial

Carys J. Craig, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, and Anupriya Dhonchak, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford; National Law University, Delhi, are publishing Against Integrity: A Feminist Theory of Moral Rights, Creative Agency, and Attribution in the Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Moral Rights (Ysolde Gendreau, ed., Edward Elgar) (Forthcoming).

The term “moral rights” captures a collection of personal rights of the author that run parallel to economic copyright interests. These moral rights include the right of attribution (the right to be associated with the work as its author) and the right of integrity (the right to object to modifications of the work that may prejudice the author's honor or reputation). It is generally agreed that moral rights occupy a unique place (the moral high ground, if you will) within the copyright realm, reflecting an intimate and ongoing personal connection between the author and their work that is deserving of acknowledgement and respect. Yet it is not generally recognized that feminist theory has something to say about the nature of this intimate personal connection and the rights that it seemingly entails. This Chapter explores insights that feminist theories can bring to the study and development of moral rights protections in copyright law. We begin by explaining why certain facets of conventional moral rights theory (typically based on the writings of Kant and Hegel) are ill-suited to—indeed inconsistent with—a feminist approach in both concept and effect. Conceptually, they demand and support an individualized and romanticized conception of the (patriarchal) author-figure. In practice, to the extent that strong moral rights of integrity and association limit dialogic engagement and transformation of protected works, they risk suppressing the kind of critical and counter-hegemonic expression that is vital to a feminist political agenda. Employing alternative feminist conceptions of situated selfhood, relationality, and dialogic authorship, we then explore what it might mean to reimagine moral rights in a way that resists claims to exclusion and control, but reflects the personal, social, and political value of creative agency. We present a limited defense of the right of attribution on these terms, and conclude with a call for attribution as feminist praxis.

Download the chapter from SSRN at the link.