"Moral Rights" clause?

[elser]

Has any one ever seen the 'Moral Rights' clause in a contract before? This is a contract to provide music for a video game company. I think it means they can completely screw up my music should they want to and I relinquish any right I might have to object.

For confidentiality I've replaced the company name with 'Uncle Doug' and my name is replaced with 'Todd'.

ASSIGNMENT 3.01 General. TODD hereby sells, grants and assigns to UNCLE DOUG without reservation all UNCLE DOUG'S right, title and interest in and to each Deliverable Item and the results and proceeds of the Services.

3.02 Moral Rights. For purposes of this subsection, “Moral Rights” means any rights of paternity or integrity, any right to claim authorship of the Deliverable Items or any results or proceeds of the Services, to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, any Deliverable Item or any results or proceeds of the Services, whether or not such would be prejudicial to UNCLE DOUG’s honor or reputation, and any similar rights existing under judicial or statutory law of any country in the world, or under any treaty, regardless of whether or not such right is denominated or generally referred to as a “moral” right. TODD hereby irrevocably transfers and assigns to UNCLE DOUG any and all Moral Rights that TODD may have in each Deliverable Item and in the results and proceeds of the Services. TODD also hereby forever waives and agrees never to assert any and all Moral Rights it may have in each Deliverable Item or in the results or proceeds of the Services, even after termination of UNCLE DOUG’s work on behalf of UNCLE DOUG or this Agreement.

Know what that means?

Thanks

[bigbluebarry]

Hey Elser,

I've signed a few deals with "moral rights" clauses and in each case it basically meant I was signing away any right I had to object to a particular use or placement of my cue based on "moral" grounds. In other words, if someone wanted to use one of my cues as the underscore to a scene that featured some type of activity that I might personally find morally objective, I was waiving my rights to make an objection about those kinds of uses. In other words, the library wasn't going to allow me to dictate what scenes my cues could be used in. I'm not an attorney, but it "appears" to me that your clause is very similar.

hth,
- Big Blue

[elser]

Thanks Big Blue,

Since I'm not aware that I have any morals maybe it doesn't apply to me anyways.

I'm starting to think it means that I give up my right to object on moral grounds for anything they might do with it, whether it's how they use it in a game or whether it's what they might do to the music in the end.

My uncle is a corporate lawyer and a retired judge and he said he couldn't make any sense out of it either, so I emailed the CEO of the company and asked him...he laughed and said he had no idea.

I'm not too worried, I'm just trying to be conscientious about it.

Thanks again!

[Hookjaw Brown]

Heh, heh...when attorneys are baffled it always make me wonder who writes this stuff.