Law Commons^™

Random Numbers, Chaos Theory, And Cogitation: A Search For The Minimal Creativity Standard In Copyright Law, Ralph D. Clifford

Faculty Publications

This article explores the second type of expressive work, those where there is a question if the author’s contribution is qualitatively sufficient, to determine how much creativity and of what type is required to sustain a copyright. Initially, the historic standards of creativity use before Fiest was decided in 1991 will be presented. Then, after a brief discussion of Fiest, the scientific basis of creativity will be explored. Next, the confusion regarding creativity that exists in the lower courts will serve to expose the source of misapplication of the law – a disconnect between how courts perceive creativity and …

The Baby And The Bathwater Too: A Critique Of American Library Ass’N V. U.S., Marc H. Greenberg

Publications

In June 2003, the Supreme Court, in United States v. American Library Ass’n, sent tremors through libraries nationwide when it reversed a finding of the United States District Court (USDC) in Philadelphia that held the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was facially violative of the First Amendment rights of library patrons. Under CIPA, all libraries that accepted federal funding to cover the costs of providing Internet access to their patrons were required to install filtering software programs on their computers to prevent patrons from seeing any material that was obscene or “harmful to minors.” The law was not limited to …

Copyright Norms And The Problem Of Private Censorship, Wendy J. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

Copyright policy must resolve intelligently the tension between upstream and downstream creators, between incentives to create and incentives to use. Downstream at1thors who copy and transform others' images or words as an input to new creativity have. obvious free speech concerns. So do simple copiers in those many instances where even non-creative copying is essential for expressing one's ideas or allegiances.

Part of the tension is economic. Because virtually every author :needs access to predecessor texts, a legislature that increases copyright protection for ·today's creators simultaneously increases tomorrow's costs of creation ¹ or use. But the issue goes far beyond …