Law Commons^™

A Theory Of Copyright Authorship, Christopher Buccafusco

Faculty Scholarship

The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to grant rights to “Authors” for their “Writings.” Despite the centrality of these terms to copyright jurisprudence, neither the courts nor scholars have provided coherent theories about what makes a person an author or what makes a thing a writing. This article articulates and defends a theory of copyrightable authorship. It argues that authorship involves the intentional creation of mental effects in an audience. A writing, then, is any fixed medium capable of producing mental effects. According to this theory, copyright may attach to the original, fixed, and minimally creative form or manner …

Performance Anxiety: Copyright Embodied And Disembodied, Rebecca Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The primary economic and cultural significance of copyright today comes from works and rights that weren’t contemplated by the Framers of the Constitution’s Copyright Clause. Performance—both as protected work and as right—is where much of copyright’s expansion has had its greatest impact, as new technologies have made it possible to fix performances in records and films and as cultural change has propelled recorded music and audiovisual works to the forefront of the copyright industries. Yet copyright has never fully conceptualized performance, and this has led to persistent confusion about what copyright protects.

One key problem of performance from copyright’s perspective …

Unauthorized Annexing Of An Artist's World: An Argument For Creator-Assignee Standing To Sue For Copyright Infringement, Karen A. Skretkowicz

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment surveys the contemporary status of copyright law regarding a creator-assignee's standing to sue for infringement and the bases for allowing a creator-assignee to bring an infringement action. Part II begins the discussion with a review of the general principles of copyright law, including its constitutional and statutory frameworks, its underlying policies, and the moral rights doctrine. Part III continues with an overview of the general constitutional standing principles and real party in interest prerequisites. It then outlines the statutory and judicial limits on standing to sue under copyright law. Part IV discusses the issue of assignee standing in …

The Search For An Author: Shakespeare And The Framers, James Boyle

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.