Where is the Morality? Moral Rights in International Intellectual Property and Trade Law

The concept of moral rights - that is, whether an author has personal rights over his work that go beyond property rights - created tensions between the European Union and the United States during the negotiations of international intellectual property agreements. This paper examines that conflict through the prism of international copyright and trade law, specifically the Berne Convention and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). As trade relations have been subsumed by international copyright law, the time seems appropriate to revisit the French-born legal notion of moral rights. Although it has been excluded from the TRIPS agreement (much to the United States’ relief), this issue has resurfaced in today’s globalized and digital world, as authors may acquire rights that they do not have at home by crossing borders. This paper delves into the power imbalance between economic and personal rights and the legal and political ramifications of these rights on the international stage