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II. RIGHTS
- THE ADAPTATION RIGHT
Berne Article 12 grants authors the exclusive right of authorizing “adaptations,
arrangements and other alterations of their work.”
This Article is implemented in various ways by different countries. In the United
States, the adaptation right is called a right to “prepare derivative works”: §
106(2) of the Copyright Act 1976 (U.S.). The definition of “derivative work” is
found in §101 of the U.S. Act:
A work based upon one or more pre-existing works such as a
translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization,
motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction,
abridgment, condensation or any other form in which a work may be
recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial
revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as
a whole, represent an original work of authorship is a “derivative
work.” [Copyright Act 1976, §101]
The corresponding provision in the United Kingdom is section 21 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which specifically provides an
“adaptation” right, defining “adaptation” as follows:
21(3) In this Part, “adaptation” –
(a) in relation to a literary or dramatic work, other than a computer
program..., means –
(i) a translation of the work;
(ii) a version of a dramatic work in which it is converted into a non-
dramatic work or, as the case may be, of a non-dramatic work in
which it is converted into a dramatic work;
(iii) a version of the work in which the story or action is conveyed
wholly or mainly be means of pictures in a form suitable for
reproduction in a book, or in a newspaper, magazine or similar
periodical;
(ab) in relation to a computer program, means an arrangement or
transcription of the work;
(ac) ....
(b) in relation to a musical work, means an arrangement or transcription
of the work.
The derivative or adaptation right may sometimes overlap with, or be treated as
a species of, the reproduction right. Thus, in the British Sillitoecase which
follows, the defendant’s acts were found to be both a reproduction and
adaptation of the plaintiff’s work. Nevertheless the two rights are conceptually
distinct.
