George Herbert wrote:
Used relative to copyright law, the term unambiguously means what Mike is saying, the rights that Europe (and others) have assigned to actual authors distinct from copyright owners etc.
The specific term as used in copyright law (as Mike says, a "term of the art" in that field) has no legal utility in the United States, as those rights in question are not acknowledged by US copyright law or precedent.
It is acknowledged in section 106A, but that seems to have been added more as a form of lip-service to international treaties. At the same time US law seems to be at pains to make sure that it has no meaningful legal effect.
Ec