I have just read a very strange statement in a book. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a similar statement, and the answer to this conundrum isn’t readily googlable
The book was written and published in the UK, by Georgette Heyer, first published in 1956, current edition from 2004. The statement in question is:
“Georgette Heyer has asserted her right under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work”
The legalities of ‘moral right’ are described here
Relevant bit:
All well and good, and I can totally imagine that the author of a book written in the 50’s might take advantage of new copyright provisions when they come into force.
The fact that Georgette Heyer died in 1974 is a bit of a problem though…
So, given that this statement is obviously false on the face of it - is this just a standard bit of boilerplate inserted without reference to the author themselves? If so, doesn’t this invalidate every similar statement made by the publisher about a living author? Since they clearly aren’t ensuring that the moral right asserting has been actually done before saying that it’s been done.