Re: [OT] Droit d'auteur vs. free software? (Was: query from Georg Greve of GNU about Debian's opinion of the FDL
Stephane Bortzmeyer <bortzmeyer@debian.org>:
> Differences: as far as free software is concerned, the big difference
> between the two systems seems to be that, under the "Droit d'auteur",
> the author has a "moral right" which can *not* be waived or granted to
> anyone else.
We already have "OT" in the subject, so may I ask whether this "moral
right" ceases with the death of the author, or whether a hostile
descendent can use it to prevent reproduction of the author's work?
Also, what does it mean to say that the "moral right" can not be
waived or granted to anyone else? I would guess it means that a
contract that tries to do so is unenforceable. However, presumably
that doesn't stop company X from paying a certain sum every month to
the author with the understanding that payments will cease if the
author tries to assert her moral rights, or the company not suing the
author so long as the author doesn't assert her moral rights. In these
cases there is no contract that needs to be enforced by the courts, so
any attempt by the legal system to prevent the "moral right" from
being waived through contract law is bound to fail.
Edmund
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