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Reflections On The Law And Economics Of Copyright Scope And Its Implications For Fair Use, Matthew J. Sag
Reflections On The Law And Economics Of Copyright Scope And Its Implications For Fair Use, Matthew J. Sag
Public Law and Legal Theory Papers
Uncertainty as to the optimum extent of protection has generally limited the capacity of law and economics to translate economic theory into coherent doctrinal recommendations in the realm of copyright. The article explores the relationship between copyright scope and welfare from a theoretical perspective to develop a framework for evaluating specific doctrinal recommendations in copyright law. This analysis of copyright scope establishes that (1) the efficiency of private ordering is the key determinant of the ideal level of copyright scope; (2) the complexity of the welfare-scope relationship is such that we are unlikely to be able to ascertain a generalizable …