As creatives, our work is an extension of ourselves – it expresses our worldviews, perspectives, opinions, and values. Criticism can be hard, but worse is when our work is twisted by someone else, causing harm to our reputation. The Copyright Act addresses this under “Moral Rights,” as the “Right to object to derogatory treatment of work.”
If someone takes an original work, adding to, deleting from, altering, adapting, distorting, and mutilating it in a way that potentially (prejudicially) damages the honour or reputation of the author or director, this is derogatory treatment. It’s about the manipulation of the work, or using the work in a way that goes against the practices of the artist, resulting in harm to the reputation of the original creator. This could be as simple as making and selling prints, when an artist has a strong reputation for only selling originals, or more extreme, such as distorting a design in a way that makes the original creator appear to be saying something completely different.
Appropriation and collage artists need to be considerate when using the work of others, as work with clearly borrowed elements can be perceived as damaging, most often seen in the visual arts and musical worlds, such as collage, or overlaying new lyrics on top of old music, and a more recent literary practice of "found poetry." However, sometimes artists want to make statements that send an opposite message from the original work; which does not necessarily result in harming the original artist’s reputation. If it’s clear that the new work is using the original work to make a contradictory comment, that’sgenerally not harming the original creator’s reputation, it’s strengthening it.
If you believe any of your work has been used in a derogatory way, document the use, and the impact to your reputation and how that impacts your career and finances, before seeking legal advice.
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If you have questions about your creative rights or concerns about infringement, get in touch with an experienced legal advisor via Legal Service.