The owner of a copyright has the right to exclude any other person from reproducing, preparing derivative works, distributing, performing, displaying, or using the work covered by copyright for a specific period of time. Copyrighted work can be a literary work, musical work, dramatic work, pantomime, choreographic work, pictorial work, graphic work, sculptural work, motion picture, audiovisual work, sound recording, architectural work, mask works fixed in semiconductor chip products, or a computer program. Only a concrete "medium of expression" can be copyrighted, facts, ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods of operation, concepts, principles or discoveries cannot themselves be copyrighted. Items to be copyrighted must be original and not the result of copying another copyrighted property.
Some jurisdictions also recognize "moral rights" of the creator of a work, such as the right to be credited for the work. Moral rights are rights of creators of copyrighted works generally recognized in civil law jurisdictions and, to a lesser extent, in some common law jurisdictions. They include the right of attribution, the right to have a work published anonymously or under a pseudonym, and the right to the integrity of the work. The preserving of the integrity of the work bars the work from alteration, distortion, or mutilation. Anything else that may detract from the artist's relationship with the work even after it leaves the artist's possession or ownership may bring these moral rights into play. Moral rights are distinct from any economic rights tied to copyrights. Even if an artist has assigned his or her rights to a work to a third party, he or she still maintains the moral rights to the work, unless waived.
The New Jersey Waiver of Moral Rights refers to a legal document that allows individuals to voluntarily relinquish their moral rights to their intellectual property. In New Jersey, moral rights typically include the right to be identified as the creator of a work, the right to prevent the work from being altered or mutilated, and the right to prevent the work from being used in a manner that harms the creator's reputation. This waiver is particularly important in the realm of artistic creations, such as literature, visual arts, music, and film, where creators may wish to waive their moral rights in favor of financial gain or other reasons. By signing the New Jersey Waiver of Moral Rights, creators essentially give up their ability to control how their work is used or presented, granting others the freedom to modify, edit, or adapt it without seeking permission or obtaining their consent. Keywords: New Jersey, Waiver of Moral Rights, intellectual property, moral rights, creator, right to be identified, right to prevent alteration, right to prevent harm to reputation, artistic creations, literature, visual arts, music, film, financial gain, control, modify, adapt. It is worth noting that while the concept of waiving moral rights is generally applicable across various creative fields, there may not be explicitly named types of New Jersey Waiver of Moral Rights. The document typically covers the broader scope of intellectual property rights, encompassing all forms of creative works eligible for protection under state and federal copyright laws.
