A Legal-Judicial Study of the Nature of Publication Contract

Today، the issue concerning the conferment of the whole or a part of the material rights belonging to the author and the related contracts is of special importance، to the extent that in some legal systems، such as the French، various specific contracts، like the publication contract، special provisions and regulations have been devised for it. Whereas، no special rules concerning the above-mentioned contracts are seen in Iranian legal system despite the recognition of the rights of literary and artistic works and the acceptance of the voluntary conferment of material rights of the author. Consequently، the legal nature of the contracts related to conferment of the material rights of the literary and artistic works is facing serious obscurities. With a comparative study of the legal nature of publication contract، it seems that in Iranian law the publication contract can be signed in the form of any of the lease، amicable settlement (ṣulḥ)، and commutative contracts، as well as the contracts of exploitation right. In addition، article 10 of the civil law also provides the possibility for the publication contract to be signed in the form of a non-specified contract.