The Right to Withdraw after Publication of Literary Works: Comparative Study of International Instruments and Some Legal Systems Adopting the Right

Abstract

In some civil law countries, creators of literary works are granted a special moral right known as the right to withdraw after publication. By virtue of this right, if the creator's opinions and beliefs change drastically after publication, the author has the right to prevent further publication of the work and stopping its circulation in the market. Also, in some legal systems, this right can be exercised for economic reasons in case of non-exploitation of the work by the publisher. Since the underlying principle of this right rests on the theory of personality, advocates of the right of withdrawal consider it as a suitable tool to preserve the creator's personality. In contrast, utility-based legal systems refuse to accept it because of its huge costs on publishers. This right is not explicitly recognized in the Iranian legal system. However, given that foundation of literary rights in Iran is mainly based on the preservation of creator's personality, and the right to withdraw is essentially a companion to the right to create and to disclose, this article defends the insertion of this right in Iranian Legal system

Keywords

• right to withdraw right to create right to disclose moral rights copyright