Law Commons^™

The Idea Of The Law Review: Scholarship, Prestige, And Open Access, Michael J. Madison

Michael J. Madison

This Essay was written as part of a Symposium on open access publishing for legal scholarship, held at Lewis & Clark Law School. It makes the claim that “open access” publishing models will succeed, or not, to the extent that they account for the existing “economy of prestige” that drives law reviews and legal scholarship. What may seem like a lot of uncharitable commentary is intended instead as an expression of guarded optimism: Imaginative reuse of some existing tools of scholarly publishing (even by some marginalized members of the prestige economy – or perhaps especially by them) may facilitate the …

Creative Commons As Conversational Copyright, Michael W. Carroll

Michael W. Carroll

Copyright law's default settings inhibit sharing and adaptation of creative works even though new digital technologies greatly enhance individuals' capacity to engage in creative conversation. Creative Commons licenses enable a form of conversational copyright through which creators share their works, primarily over the Internet, while asserting some limitation on user's right with respect to works in the licensed commons. More specifically, this chapter explains the problems in copyright law to which Creative Commons licenses respond, the methods chosen, and why the machine-readable and public aspects of the licenses are specific examples of a more general phenomenon in digital copyright law …

Comentarios Al Proyecto De Extensión Del Plazo De Protección Del Derecho De Autor Desde El Aed, Maximiliano Marzetti

Maximiliano Marzetti

No abstract provided.

Locks & Levies, Jeremy F. De Beer

Jeremy de Beer

This paper explores two ways that law can influence the creation and distribution of digital content. Specifically, it looks at the relationship between (1) prohibitions against circumventing technological protection measures (TPMs) and (2) levies on products or services used to reproduce or transmit digital materials. The relationship between digital locks and levies is analyzed through a comparative study of developments in Canada and the United States. Canada has created a broad levy (compared to the United States) to address the issue of private copying. Canada has not, so far, enacted specific anti-circumvention legislation like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). …

Rebalancing Section 512 To Protect Fair Users From Herds Of Mice-Trampling Elephants, Or A Little Due Process Is Not Such A Dangerous Thing, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

I agree with the basic concept of 17 U.S.C. § 512; to protect Internet functionality, ISPs should have robust safe harbors against liability for their subscribers' copyright infringement. However, the current details of the notice and take down system are both unfair to the general public and unnecessary to the economic health of the United States. I suggest a robust, statutorily established digital fair use right backed by a notice and take down procedure protecting fair users. At a minimum, use of a purchased music file on any of the purchaser's equipment should be fair use. Preferably, all personal non-commercial …

The Movement For Open Access Law, Michael W. Carroll

Michael W. Carroll

My claim in this contribution to this important symposium is that the law and legal scholarship should be freely available on the Internet, and copyright law and licensing should facilitate achievement of this goal. This claim reflects the combined aims of those who support the movement for open access law. This nascent movement is a natural extension of the well-developed movement for free access to primary legal materials and the equally well-developed open access movement, which seeks to make all scholarly journal articles freely available on the Internet. Legal scholars have only general familiarity with the first movement and very …

Copyright On Catfish Row: Musical Borrowing, Porgy & Bess And Unfair Use, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa

Olufunmilayo B. Arewa

Treatment of musical borrowing under current copyright standards is far too often inequitable. This is evident in the works of George Gershwin, who, for a number of reasons, was able to borrow freely from existing traditions, works and artists, copyright the works he produced that reflected such borrowings, and then restrict future borrowings and reinterpretations of his works. The operation and the uses of copyright in the specific instance of George Gershwin’s musical practice reflect actual uses of copyright in the musical arena and demonstrates some ways in which current copyright frameworks may not adequately contemplate actual practices of music …

War And Peace: The 34th Annual Donald C. Brace Lecture, Jessica Litman

Jessica Litman

No abstract provided.

How Restrictive Terms And Technologies Backfired On Sony Bmg , Jeremy F. De Beer

Jeremy de Beer

This short paper addresses the issue of restrictive contractual terms and digital rights management technologies in the music industry, using the recent controversy surrounding Sony BMG Music as a case study. The issues are discussed mainly from a Canadian perspective. Part I provides an overview of the factual and technical background to this story. Part II contains an analysis of the legal consequences of Sony BMG's actions, and offers some insights as to the policy implications for consumer protection, contract and copyright laws.

Protection Of Broadcasters’ Rights, Megumi Ogawa

Dr Megumi Ogawa

This book deals with a highly topical area: the protection of broadcasters' rights. It is an area in which the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has been working to draft a new treaty and has now reached the final stage for conclusion of the treaty. The author analyses the formation and subsequent development of the legislation for protecting broadcasters' rights, and discusses the current legal issues arising out of current proposals at the international and domestic levels to upgrade that protection. The focus of the work is the international protection of broadcasters' rights as well as in the two jurisdictions …

A Feeling Of Unease About Privacy Law, Ann Bartow

Ann Bartow

This essay responds to Daniel Solove's recent article, A Taxonomy of Privacy. I have read many of Daniel Solove's privacy-related writings, and he has made many important scholarly contributions to the field. As with his previous works about privacy and the law, it is an interesting and substantive piece of work. Where it falls short, in my estimation, is in failing to label and categorize the very real harms of privacy invasions in an adequately compelling manner. Most commentators agree that compromising a person's privacy will chill certain behaviors and change others, but a powerful list of the reasons why …

The Master's Tools V. The Master's House: Creative Commons V. Copyright, Severine Dusollier

Severine Dusollier

No abstract provided.

One On The Nose For Bellure: French Appellate Court Confirms That Perfumes Are Copyright Protected, Estelle Derclaye

Estelle Derclaye

No abstract provided.

A Technological Theory Of The Arms Race, Lee B. Kovarsky

Lee Kovarsky

Although the 'technological arms race' has recently emerged as a vogue-ish piece of legal terminology, scholarship has quite conspicuously failed to explore the phenomenon systematically. What are 'technological' arms races? Why do they happen? Does the recent spike in scholarly attention actually reflect their novelty? Are they always inefficient? How do they differ from military ones? What role can legal institutions play in slowing them down? In this Article I seek to answer these questions. I argue that copyright enforcement and self-help represent substitutable tactics for regulating access to expressive assets, and that the efficacy of each tactic depends on …

Freedom Of Expression (R): Overzealous Copyright Bozos And Other Enemies Of Creativity (Book Review), Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

Dmca Anti-Circumvention Provisions In A Different Light: Perspectives From Transnational Observation Of Five Jurisdictions, Richard Li-Dar Wang

Richard Li-dar Wang

In order to cope with the challenge posed by high-quality digital copying of copyrightable works, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and a number of its members have determined to incorporate anticircumvention provisions in 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and their domestic copyright laws. Even though these countries adopted this brand new regulation close in time, they approached the same problem in quite different manners, especially divergent with regard to public domain and fair use privileges. Since the two limitations on copyright play a key role in preserving free dissemination of information and preventing authors from over-asserting their exclusive rights, …

Creative Commons And The New Intermediaries, Michael W. Carroll

Michael W. Carroll

This symposium contribution examines the disintermediating and reintermediating roles played by Creative Commons licenses on the Internet. Creative Commons licenses act as a disintermediating force because they enable end-to-end transactions in copyrighted works. The licenses have reintermediating force by enabling new services and new online communities to form around content licensed under a Creative Commons license. Intermediaries focused on the copyright dimension have begun to appear online as search engines, archives, libraries, publishers, community organizers, and educators. Moreover, the growth of machine-readable copyright licenses and the new intermediaries that they enable is part of a larger movement toward a Semantic …