What are neighboring rights in copyright law?
Neighboring rights refer to the rights adjacent to copyright, and refer to the creative work and rights made by the disseminator of the work in the process of disseminating the work. Investment rights. Neighboring rights are rights arising from the propagation of a work. After the work is created, it needs to be disseminated to the public. The communicator has creative labor in disseminating the work, and this kind of labor should also be protected by law. The rights arising from the dissemination of works by a disseminator are called related rights of copyright. Neighboring rights are closely related to copyright and are a right independent of copyright. In our country, neighboring rights mainly refer to the rights of publishers, performers, producers of video recordings, rights of sound recording producers, the rights of television stations to non-work television programs produced by them, and the rights of radio stations.
In common law countries, copyright laws rarely introduce the concept of neighboring rights. For example, British copyright law treats the rights of sound recording producers and broadcasting and television organizations as copyright. In U.S. copyright law, the rights of authors and sound producers fall within the scope of copyright. Only in European continental law countries are the concepts of copyright and related rights strictly distinguished.
Legal characteristics
(1) The subjects of rights are different. The subject of copyright is the author of the work and citizens, legal persons or other social organizations other than the author who enjoy copyright. The copyright owner enjoys all or part of the copyright based on contractual relationships, legal provisions, etc. The subject of neighboring rights is the disseminator of the work. In the process of dissemination of a work, the person who gives the work a specific form of dissemination and devotes creative labor, funds and material resources to this end becomes the subject of neighboring rights. Specifically, they are performers, audio and video producers, radio and television organizations and publishers.
(2) The content of rights is different. Copyright includes personal rights and property rights. The personal rights of the copyright holder are important rights enjoyed by the author or other relevant persons, and they occupy an important position. Neighboring rights directly stipulate the rights of neighboring rights holders, focusing on the protection of the economic interests generated by their communication activities (except for performers' rights). This is because the neighboring right holder cannot re-create the work personally during the dissemination of the work. However, when performers disseminate works, they also involve the protection of their performance images, so they should be given certain protection.
(3) The objects of rights are different. The object of copyright is a work, which is a work originally created or performed by the author. The object of neighboring rights is the new form of communication given to the work by the disseminator, that is, performances, audio and video products, radio and television programs, and book versions.
(4) The status of the two is different. Copyright is independent and can be exercised independently, while neighboring rights depend on copyright and are a right derived from copyright. Neighboring rights always include copyright, and copyright must be involved when exercising neighboring rights.