[Ann Drysdale]

Like Trades Unions. Like the Society of Authors...

The thing that horrified me and made me post the original howl was the proposition that the notional 14 years should start from the point of publication. I can see good reasons to reduce the posthumous term, but the thought that work of mine might cease to be under my control so soon after its realisation made me feel sick.

By the standards of many people here I live in relative poverty but what wealth I have resides in what I have made. Not in financial terms but in the sense of stored substance, as hard to define as the very notion of "intellectual property".

To think that it might be re-made, re-visualised, used to advertise something I detest or to hurt someone I love; that I would have to watch it happen while being powerless to prevent it - that's what caused the yelp of pain. I know there are people who will say "Huh?- you should be so lucky!", but I can imagine a scenario I couldn't live with.

However, fourteen years after the obol has cooled under my tongue? That I might just be prepared to discuss, though I would prefer fifteen to be the figure under consideration.

[Roger Slater]

Ann, your concerns raise the issue of moral rights as well as legal ownership. It's a fuzzier area of the law, and it varies from country to country, but it covers things like an author's right to proper attribution and to the integrity of the work, even if ownership has passed. In Canada, for example, a sculptor was successful in a lawsuit against a shopping mall that had decorated his statue with Christmas bows. Here's Wikepedia on moral rights. In the US, moral rights are stronger in the area of visual arts than written word, but arguably not that strong. But the point is that moral rights and copyright are distinct concepts. Owning a copyright does not necessarily entail being able to do whatever you want with a work.

[Ann Drysdale]

Roger, thank you. That is a relief. I had not understood this.

Armed with this new idea, I note that, of the two volumes of my UK-published poetry I have immediately to hand, one says:

The moral rights of the author are asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, 1988.

The other says:

The right of Ann Drysdale to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, 1988.

So it would seem that authorship and moral rights are officially intertwined in a way that I find hugely comforting. I am not much concerned about the money.

Thank you again, Roger. Once more your insight has proved invaluable.