Moral rights allow the author to maintain an intense relationship with their creation, as they are personal rights.  Moral rights primarily give the author absolute power over whether and when they want to publish their work for the first time or make it accessible to the public. This also means that they decide when, in their professional judgement, a copyright work is complete. The author also has the absolute right to decide whether to be named as the author of the design work and how they wish to be named (e.g. to sign the work, to be identified by a pseudonym, to be mentioned in the colophon, etc.). The moral right of respect for the work gives the author the power to prohibit any interference with their creation that might be prejudicial to their person, and in this way they can resist any distortion. Finally, the author has a morally conditioned right of withdrawal, which allows them to change their mind and revoke the transfer of a economic copyright on the basis of serious moral considerations.

Other infringements of copyright of a moral nature include so-called plagiarism, or using someone else’s copyright work as one’s own, where someone knowingly owns someone else’s copyright work and presents it as one’s own (an example of imitation).