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- Should
Famous Authors Receive Better Or Longer Moral Rights Protection?
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- January 19,
2009
- By Eric M. Scharf
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- If you take a bare-bones approach to
the question of whether or not famous authors deserve longer or
better moral rights protection, then, you have to answer that
question with another core question: how does a person or an
author, in this case, become famous?
A famous person becomes famous through discovery and nothing more.
If a tree falls in a forest, will anyone hear it? If someone
is standing near that tree, then, the answer is yes, and, if not,
then the answer is no. And that is just the first step.
So an author is discovered by another person who finds his / her
writing intriguing, provocative, or both. There is now one
person in the world who believes the author is marvelous, or, at the
very least, darn entertaining (and personality traits are in-no-way
being referenced here; just writing quality-and-style).
Then, the discoverer has to spread the word to others about the
author (who, at the time, may have no clue he / she has gained a big
fan). Then, it is up to fate to see how many people agree with
the discoverer that the author is, in fact, brilliant. If,
like an organ donation, the discoverer's opinion takes, then, the
author (whether interested / intended or not) will become famous. Depending upon how quickly and successfully word spreads, the author
could become famous in a town, a city, a state, a country, or the
world.
If this is, in fact, the historical-and-traditional process by which
an author or any other person becomes successful, then, the answer
to your original question is NO, famous authors should not get
longer or better moral rights protection for their works. Authors, pro football athletes, and race car drivers become famous
by chance.
An aspiring author can write poorly and be shredded by a publisher,
resulting in no fame.
An aspiring football player can miss a tackle, allowing his opponent
to score the winning touchdown, thus, brainwashing the fans into
remembering only his failure, resulting in infamy.
An aspiring race car driver can crash his / her car into the wall
during a junior-level race, never again receiving a chance to
compete
(even in a sport where wrecks occur every day), resulting in no
sponsor and no fame.
There is one artificial fly-in-the-ointment to this logic, which is
the ability of the media to (a) give unbridled attention to spin
doctors who (b) can transform "Joe the Plumber," a previous unknown,
into a rock star. Media attention, ironically, for all of its
instant power, is also driven by chance, which is the key to
answering the question of greater moral rights protection for famous
authors.
If, by chance, no one notices you, your skill set, or the results of
your efforts, you will go undiscovered, and you will not be famous
(except for in your own mind), no matter your background.
Imagine the President of the United States, for example, without
full-time, or any, media coverage. Politicians typically go
unnoticed (even unappreciated) until they do something wrong, or, on
a more rare occasion, when they do something right. Imagine finding
out about their successes or failures a month or two after they
occurred? No media coverage, very little chance, and a grand
return to the good ole’ days when people could quite literally get
away with murder, let alone become famous authors.
The element of chance dictates notoriety, and, thus, a famous author,
when in need of legal support, is simply left taking the same
approach everyone else does in the world: research for the
best available attorney, who specializes in their specific need, and
hope to be able to afford their services. You do not want to
"chance" the level of protection that surrounds your famous literary
works. And, as a famous author, if you do not care about your
rights, or you are simply ignorant to this all-important subject,
then, God help you to walk and chew gum at the same time.
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