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Full-Text Articles in Law
The First Amendment Implications Of Copyright's Double Standard, Raymond Shih Ray Ku
The First Amendment Implications Of Copyright's Double Standard, Raymond Shih Ray Ku
Faculty Publications
Beginning with a simple question, “What’s the big deal? It’s just entertainment,” this Article argues that copyright law restricts more than just entertainment - it restricts freedom of artistic expression. Despite copyright’s facial neutrality, courts have interpreted otherwise neutral rules to subject authors to a double standard for expression. Through a series of doctrinal contradictions and hypocrisies, copyright singles out “just entertainment,” imposing greater restrictions upon the freedom of those authors relative to all other authors. By discriminating against “entertainment,” the current doctrine violates its own fundamental tenet of non-discrimination. Moreover, by selectively restricting how authors may choose to engage …
Consumers & Creative Destruction: Fair Use Beyond Market Failure, Raymond Shih Ray Ku
Consumers & Creative Destruction: Fair Use Beyond Market Failure, Raymond Shih Ray Ku
Faculty Publications
For almost twenty years, the concept of market failure has defined the boundaries of fair use under copyright law. In this article Professor Ku challenges this interpretation of fair use by offering an alternative economic interpretation of the doctrine. This Article argues fair use is justified when consumer copying creatively destroys the need for copy- right's exclusive rights in reproduction and distribution. This occurs when: 1) the consumer of a work makes copies of it, and 2) creation of the work does not depend upon funding derived from the sale of copies. Under these circumstances, exclusive rights in reproduction and …