An author is a natural person who creates an original work of the mind in the literary, artistic, or scientific field. The author is the person who, through their intellectual work, creates a work protected by copyright. This work can take various forms, such as writings (books, articles), works of art (paintings, sculptures), audiovisual works (films, series), musical works, software, photographs, and many others
As a creator, the author has specific rights over their work, which fall into two main categories:
- Moral rights: These protect the author’s personality as expressed in their work. These rights include the right to respect for the integrity of the work, the right of paternity (to be recognised as the author of the work), the right of disclosure (to decide whether to make the work public), and the right of withdrawal or repentance. These rights are inalienable, perpetual, and non-transferable.
- Economic rights: These allow the author to derive economic benefits from their work. These rights include the right of reproduction (the right to copy the work), the right of representation (the right to distribute the work to the public), and the right of adaptation (the right to transform the work).
In short, an author is the intellectual creator of an original work and has rights to protect and exploit that creation.
In some cases, a company may be considered the author or, more precisely, the copyright holder of a work, even though it is not itself the author in the strict sense. A company may hold the rights to a work in the case of a collective work, a work created by employees or under a contract of employment, or in the case of a transfer of copyright.