In a legal and commercial context, an author is a person or entity who creates a work and holds exclusive rights to it. Authors include but are not limited to writers, photographers, painters, inventors, or creators of software code such as apps.
Rights of an Author
The right to an author’s work are protected by the law. This includes intellectual property or patent law, copyright law, trademark law, and other related laws. The rights granted to an author include the right to make copies of their work, control how their work is used, control how their work is distributed, and financially benefit from their work.
Example of an Author Rights Situation
For example, if an author creates an app and then gives it to someone to distribute for sale, they still maintain the right to be credited as the author of the app and have their name or company logo displayed in the app. They also have the right to receive any profits made on the sale of the app.