HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHETHER COPYRIGHTS ARE INHERITABLE? FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU WROTE A BOOK, CAN THE RIGHTS INHERENT TO THE WORK BE INHERITED TO YOUR DESCENDANTS OR DO THESE RIGHTS DIE WITH YOU?

In general terms, the Federal Copyright Law defines copyright as follows the recognition made by the State in favor of all creators of literary or artistic works, granting their protection so that the author enjoys exclusive prerogatives and privileges. Indeed, these rights are classified in two, known as moral and patrimonial. The former are considered to be attached to the author, the person who materialized the work, and are inalienable, imprescriptible, unrenounceable and unseizable. On the other hand, the latter, also known as economic rights, are translated as the right to exclusively exploit the works or to authorize others to exploit them.

Then, are copyrights inheritable? The reality is that the answer varies depending on the type of rights involved, i.e., whether they are moral or economic rights. As regards moral rights, their ownership is not inheritable, since the author (creator of the work) is the sole owner of the works of his creation and will always have the right to have his name appear as such, therefore, it is impossible for the name of a third party who did not participate in the creation of the work to be recognized in this respect.

But, what happens to such rights when the author dies? First, in the case of moral rights, given their nature, they are non-transferable and will always be considered attached to the author; however, the faculties or prerogatives that they grant may be exercised by the heirs, but they are not transferred to the author. on a limited basis. Thus, the law allows the heirs the following:

1. Determine whether the work can be disclosed and in what form, or on the contrary, decide to keep it unpublished, i.e., not to publish it.
2. Demand the acknowledgment of the author of the work or decide that it be disclosed as an anonymous work or using a pseudonym.
3. Demand respect for the work, opposing any deformation or modification that may be made, or any action that may cause damage to the author's reputation.
4. To oppose the attribution to the author of a work that is not of his authorship.

However, there are two powers that solely and exclusively belong to the author of the work, being out of the reach of the heirs, being the following: 1) the power to modify the work and; 2) to withdraw the work from commerce in case the original author had already authorized it. Likewise, in the event of the death of the author of the work and no heir has been designated or, according to civil legislation, there is no legitimate heir, the exercise of these rights shall pass to the State without any limitation.

However, what happens to economic rights? Contrary to what happens with moral rights, economic rights are inheritable each and every one of them, so that the heirs may continue to obtain the economic benefits derived from the reproduction, distribution, or communication of a work, even after the author's lifetime.

However, the Law does make a distinction between the types of ownership, establishing that the author of the work is the sole owner of it. original owner of the patrimonial right and, in any case, the heirs acquire what is called, a derived ownershipHowever, this is merely a formality, since, once the author dies, the derivative holder has the same powers as the original author would have with respect to this kind of rights.

In this regard, the heir(s) of the economic rights holder(s) may authorize or prohibit the following:

1. The reproduction, publication, edition or material fixation of a work in copies or copies made in any medium.
2. Public communication of the work.
3. The public transmission or broadcasting of the work.
4. distribution of the work (including sale or any other form of transmission)
5. Prohibit the importation into the national territory of copies of the work made without its authorization;
6. The disclosure of derivative works, in any of its modalities, such as translation, adaptation, paraphrasing, arrangements and transformations or whatever the case may be, according to the nature of the work.
7. And finally, any public use of the work except in the cases expressly established in this Law.

Likewise, the holders of derivative rights may authorize third parties to exploit the works by means of exclusive or non-exclusive licenses and within the limits established by law.

In addition, the heirs shall enjoy the right to receive royalties, which are defined as the payment for the communication or public transmission of a work by any means and which shall be paid by the person who makes the communication or public transmission of the works, provided that he/she has the express consent to do so.

It is important to mention that the patrimonial rights will be in force for one hundred years from any of the following assumptions, depending on the case:

1. One hundred years from the death of the author and when the work belongs to several co-authors the one hundred years will be counted from the death of the last one or else;
2. One hundred years after they were disclosed.

Considering such validity, it is most likely that the heirs who have a derived ownershipThe patrimonial rights belonging to the original author may, in turn, be inherited by a new generation. However, after the aforementioned terms, the work will pass into the public domain.

Now, approaching the subject from the civil point of view, copyrights are considered as movable property, in accordance with the Federal Civil Code, therefore, the transfer of copyrights is appropriate through succession, either testamentary or legitimate (when there is no will and the distribution of assets must be made before a civil judge or notary public, as the case may be).

Therefore, it is important that the author of the will expressly designates the heirs of his works, otherwise, the moral and patrimonial rights will pass to the legitimate heirs (descendants, ascendants, spouses or the person who according to the civil legislation has that character) and in case they do not exist, they will remain in favor of the State.

In short, copyrights do not die at the moment of the author's death, but can be inherited by third parties: on the one hand, in the case of moral rights, the only thing that is passed on is the exercise On the other hand, with respect to economic rights, their ownership is transmitted without limitations, which allows the heirs to enjoy the same faculties that the original author of the work would have.

List of references:

Federal Copyright Law. Last modification on July 01, 2020. https://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/LFDA.pdf

COPYRIGHTS. ITS TRANSMISSION IS APPROPRIATE THROUGH TESTAMENTARY SUCCESSION. First Chamber. Isolated Thesis. Civil. Digital Registry: 189478. 1a. LV/2001. Judicial Weekly of the Federation and its Gazette. Volume XIII, June 2001, page 235. https://sjf2.scjn.gob.mx/detalle/tesis/189478