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Full-Text Articles in Law
Five Reforms For Copyright, Tom Bell
Escape From Copyright: Market Success Vs. Statutory Failure In The Protection Of Expressive Works, Tom W. Bell
Escape From Copyright: Market Success Vs. Statutory Failure In The Protection Of Expressive Works, Tom W. Bell
Tom W. Bell
Copyright law, originally excused as a necessary evil, threatens now to become an inescapable burden. Because state and common law rights seemed inadequate to protect expressive works from unrestricted copying, the Founders expressly authorized federal copyright legislation. Lawmakers have read that constitutional mandate liberally. Each new version of the Copyright Act has embodied longer, broader, and more powerful legal protections. Meanwhile, private initiatives have developed increasingly effective means of safeguarding copyrighted works. Alarmed that these dual trends benefit copyright owners at too great an expense to the public interest, many commentators argue that the Copyright Act should limit and preempt …