Legal nature and rights of audiovisual effects

Abstract

Audiovisual works are considered one of the most complex intellectual works in terms of their legal nature and the rights that derive from them, due to their collective creative nature, overlap in artistic contributions, and diversity in forms of economic exploitation. This research deals with the legal nature of audiovisual effects through a comparative analytical study, reviewing the different jurisprudential possibilities in adapting them, whether as joint effects, collective effects, derivative and employable effects, or effects arising from demand, while explaining the consequences of each adaptation of rights. for authors in terms of moral and financial rights. The research also addresses the position of three legal systems on these problems, namely: Iraqi law, Iranian law, and European regulation, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each of them. The research concluded that the jurisprudential adaptation of audiovisual effects cannot be a comprehensive and prohibitive adaptation, but rather differs according to the conditions of production of the work and the nature of the contributions to it, and that the Iraqi and Iranian legislation lacks a special and clear regulation of this type of work, which leaves room for jurisprudence and contractual agreements that often tend to favor the product at the expense of the authors. The comparison also showed that the European regulation represents a more balanced model, combining the recognition of the collective nature of audiovisual work in terms of management and exploitation, and the preservation of the minimum moral rights of the primary authors. The research concluded by emphasizing the need for the intervention of the Iraqi and Iranian legislators to develop a special legal framework that takes into account the privacy of these works, and balances the protection of the rights of creators with the requirements of economic exploitation, while benefiting from the European experience in this field.