When we talk about intellectual property (IP) and sustainability, we rarely pay attention to the moral rights of authors. However, it is important to assess these ‘authors-only’ rights in a world where copyright is often used as a tool to maximise corporate profits. In terms of sustainable development, moral rights can both promote and hinder environmental, social and cultural sustainability in the creative industries. However, their relationship with sustainable development is not straightforward. This blog post looks at some of the key issues that link the protection of moral rights in copyright to sustainable development and the circular economy. It focuses in particular on perhaps the hottest topic in IP law at the moment: upcycling, i.e. the transformative recycling of tangible copies of works or goods protected by some form of intellectual property (IP) law.