# The Right of This Zombie has been asserted for BRAINNNNZ

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-of-this-zombie-has-been-asserted-for-brainnnnz/759755>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 12, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-of-this-zombie-has-been-asserted-for-brainnnnz/759755 "2016-07-12T22:13:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-of-this-zombie-has-been-asserted-for-brainnnnz/759755/1 "2016-07-12T22:13:31Z")

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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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_Kingdom#Moral_rights)

Relevant bit:

> [@](#):
>
> The rights to object to derogatory treatment and not to be falsely attributed as author operate automatically. However, the right to be identified as the author or director of a work must be asserted.

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.