Experts’ Answers to Oral History Questions

100 Questions/10

Translated by Mandana Karimi

2025-12-25

We asked several researchers and activists in the field of oral history to express their views on oral history questions. The name of each participant comes at the beginning of the answer and the text of all the answers is on this portal by the end of the week. The goal of this project is to open new doors to an issue and promote scientific discussions in the field of oral history.

In this project, a question is asked every Saturday, and we ask experts to present their views in the form of a short text (about 100 words) by the end of the week. All the answers will be published together so that the audience can compare and analyze the views.

The content is the opinions of the senders and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Oral History website. Although the answers are supposed to be about 100 words, but in order to be polite and not leaving the discussion incomplete in some cases, answers longer than this are also accepted.

This time, we asked experts to submit their answers by Sunday night so that all answers can be published on Tuesday.

Question 10:

Who owns the intellectual property of an oral history work; the interviewer, the editor, the narrator?

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Answer to Question 10:

Mohammad Mehdi Behdarvand

In intellectual property law, the principle is that the “creator” is the owner of the rights, and oral history is inherently a collaborative and multi-layered work. In the absence of a written contract, the narrator owns the literary rights to his speech and memory; the interviewer owns the questions, the interview design, and his creative contribution to guiding and recording the conversation. The editor only has rights to his creative additions, not the original narrative. The recorded file and the final product can also create exploitation rights for the producer. However, intellectual property rights such as attribution and prohibition of distortion remain. The standard way is to prepare a consent form and precisely determine the limits of ownership and publication.

Mohammad Mehdi Abdollahzadeh

Intellectual Property Rights deals with works that are the result of human thought, thought, and creativity and have their roots in their mental creations. In our country, like material property, the registration of these rights is the responsibility of the National Real Estate and Documents Registration Organization. This legal system recognizes the value of human thought and intellectual achievements and includes rights such as the right to attribute the work, prevent distortion, preserve the integrity of the work, and use the name and image. In oral history works, the narrator, interviewer, implementer, and compiler each have a different role; therefore, an agreement between them about the division of material benefits and intellectual rights of the work is essential.

Hassan Beheshtipour

In oral history, the final product is usually the result of the collaboration of several creators of the work, and therefore, the boundaries of its intellectual property are not as clear and simple as in works of writing or research. Oral history is “multi-layered” in nature, and the contribution of each participant is determined by the degree of creative intervention, the role in shaping the content, and the transformation of the raw materials into the final narrative. The narrator is not simply a source of information, but one of the main creators of the work; the narrative of his lived experience has a literary nature due to the linguistic choices and production of meaning, and ownership of the content of the narrative belongs to him. The role of the interviewer and editor is also effective, but changes in proportion to the level of guidance, structuring, and feedback of the narrative. However, the central position of the narrator is always maintained.

Seyyed Vali Hashemi

In oral history, there are three types of ownership: intellectual, material, and credit. Intellectual property of the text and all its attachments, including documents, photographs, and notes, belongs to the narrator, and any citation must be made in his name. The interviewer is the discoverer of the narrative and the converter of it into sound, but he is not considered the owner. The editor plays an effective role by organizing and making the narrative readable, and can be considered a share of the intellectual property. Although other people also play a role in producing the work, the principle of intellectual property belongs to the narrator and then the editor.

Gholamreza Azizi

An oral history work has at least four manifestations: transcription, revised interview, revised interview, and oral history (individual or group). In all of these manifestations, the narrator, interviewer, and editor have the right to have their names and roles included in the work's identity. In the transcription, which is published as the interview with minimal interference, the intellectual property belongs to the narrator and the interviewer has his or her own role. In revised and revised interviews, the narrator is also the main creator, but in oral history, since the editor recreates the interviews as the main source of research, the intellectual property of the work belongs to him or her.

Seyyed Mohammad Sadeq Faiz

The intellectual property of an oral history work ultimately belongs to the narrator, because he is the producer of the main content of the work. If this work is published in the form of a book, the ownership of the work belongs to the author or editor who transformed the memories and narrative into the final text. Other people also play a role in the production of every book, but the author's name is printed on the cover of the book. The contribution and interest of other factors of production are reserved, but it is the author's ability to use the memories and organize them that shapes the final work and the role of others, although effective, is the result of his ability to use and guide them.

Hamid Qazvini

Oral history, like any other activity, requires a clear legal system that legal experts can comment on. In general, when memories are legally recorded and published, three parties share in the ownership of them. The narrator's right is a type of intellectual property, because the memories are the product of his intellectual and mental abilities and cannot be assigned. In contrast, the interviewer's and editor's rights are of a material nature, because the final product of the text, audio or video file can be bought, sold and transferred, and everyone can claim ownership to the extent of their role.

Abolfazl Hassanabadi

Intellectual property is one of the controversial issues in oral history and can vary depending on the type of project and the client. Contrary to the popular belief that intellectual property is sought only in the published output, this ownership actually belongs to the oral content produced, the result of the interviewer's conversation with the interviewee. Intellectual property can belong to the interviewer, the interviewee, or the commissioning center, depending on the type of work. When publishing, the names of the editor and publisher are also mentioned, and sometimes all the factors affecting intellectual property are gathered in one complex, such as the Surah Art Center, and sometimes there is a joint interaction between the commissioning center and the publisher.

Abolfat'h Mo'men

Oral history is a group work that begins with the narrator identifying the subject. In the production of a work, the narrator, interviewer, text implementer, editor, and publisher all participate in it. Interviews with narrators may be conducted individually, organizationally, or by authorized institutions. All participants have material rights, and some institutions, such as the Islamic Propaganda Organization's Art Center, strive to respect these rights. However, the intellectual property of the oral history work belongs to the narrator, and publishing memories without his or her permission is not possible. It is appropriate for institutions and organizations, especially the Iranian Oral History Association, to define intellectual property and its solutions by developing guidelines and regulations.

Shafiqa Niknafs

Intellectual property belongs to the rights arising from the thought and creation of the work, and anything that is the result of individual mental effort and talent can be included in it. The main function of this ownership is to prevent theft and unauthorized exploitation of the work. In oral history, both the interviewer and the interviewee are in the position of historian and creator of the work and have intellectual property rights. The editor also has intellectual property rights, and it is appropriate for the names of all these people to be included in the archival documentation, on the cover, title page, and introduction of the published work.

Mohammad Mohsen Mos'hafi

According to the definition of what creates a right called intellectual property, innovation, creation, and creation of a literary, artistic, intellectual, etc. work. Accordingly: Although the narrator owns the memory and allows its use, he does not have a share in the intellectual property. Interviewing in its general sense is also not dependent on creation. Unlike editing and writing, which are inherently dependent on creation and creation and cannot be achieved except through it. In fact, the book can be considered the work of the editor - based on the narrator's narration.

In the assumption of an employer for the publication of the book, however, all rights created are transferred to the employer by a contract. In this case, the editor is a contractor and has transferred his intellectual property to the employer.