Objective: The film industry is one of the most significant domains for the production of cultural and artistic works, creating a set of economic and moral rights for creators, producers, directors, screenwriters, actors, composers, and other creative contributors. Effective protection of these rights, in addition to safeguarding the economic and professional interests of filmmakers, plays a vital role in fostering creativity, preventing unauthorized exploitation, and regulating relations among the contributors to cinematic productions. The subject of this research is a comparative study of the protection of economic and moral rights in cinematic works under Iranian law and the law of the United States. The present study undertakes an analysis of the foundations and regulations governing intellectual property in Iranian cinema, explicates the status of filmmakers' economic and moral rights, examines the challenges related to ownership, transfer, exploitation, and infringement of rights in cinematic works, and subsequently compares these with the legal system of the United States.
Method: The present study employs a descriptive–analytical method with a comparative approach.
Results: The findings indicate that under Iranian law, the Law on the Protection of the Rights of Authors, Writers, and Artists (passed in 1969) includes audio-visual and cinematic works among protected works and recognizes exclusive rights of publication, distribution, offering, performance, and economic and moral exploitation of the work for the creator. The creator's moral rights are non-transferable and not limited by time or place, and the law also provides for the transfer of economic rights and the exploitation of cinematic works. By contrast, under United States law, the protection of cinematic works is primarily governed by copyright law and Title 17 of the United States Code. Cinematic works and other audio-visual works fall explicitly within the scope of copyright protection, and protection attaches upon the creation and fixation of the work in a tangible medium. This system recognizes numerous exclusive rights for the rights holder, including reproduction, distribution, public display and performance, and the preparation of derivative works.
Conclusions: The results indicate that although both legal systems share common ground in protecting cinematic works and the economic rights of creators, the United States legal system possesses a more coherent structure with respect to the differentiation of rights, commercial exploitation mechanisms, and enforcement guarantees, whereas Iranian law requires revision and updating of its regulations in line with technological developments and new modes of production, dissemination, and distribution of cinematic works.