Broadly speaking, the set of rights in a work that give control over the existence or fate of a work, rather than over its economic exploitation.
Moral rights (a translation of the French concept “droit moral”) in a creative work are the corollary to the economic rights. They represent the rights in a work that are inherent in its status as a creative work and in its relationship with its creator. While they are statutorily reinforced, they typically are thought of as existing on their own. That is, they are much closer to being “natural” rights. Perhaps because of the nature of the rights, they are more often associated with visual works, such as painting or sculpture, than with “informational” works, such as texts.
The Berne Convention explicitly recognizes moral rights, but U.S. law does not officially recognize moral rights, which is an ongoing source of tension between U.S. law and that of other Berne Convention members. The U.S, maintains that its laws have sufficient provisions in place, such as the Visual Artists Rights Act, to accommodate moral rights.
Article 6bis (1) of the Berne convention reads:
“ (1) Independently of the author's economic rights, and even after the transfer of the said rights, the author shall have the right to claim authorship of the work and to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, the said work, which would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation.”
The enumeration of moral rights varies from country to country, but they are most often listed as:
The right of paternity -- to claim authorship (or disclaim it, in the event of unauthorized change).
The right of integrity -- to approve of or object to any modification, distortion or change to the work.
The right of withdrawal -- to remove a work from the public sphere at will.
The right of release -- the right to control when a work is seen by the public.