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Full-Text Articles in Law
Writing Rights: Copyright’S Visual Bias And African American Music, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Writing Rights: Copyright’S Visual Bias And African American Music, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Copyright was first applied to words and was initially visual in orientation. Since the earliest copyright laws, copyright subject matter has progressively expanded from granting rights to protect written expression to other artistic arenas. Copyright law has, however, consistently undervalued the art of performance while favoring the written expression of music, which has had a profound impact on African American based musical forms, now a dominant basis for popular music. This paper examines the privilege of sight in copyright and the numerous ways in which copyright law systematically disfavors performance and suggests two possible explanations. First, copyright law seems to …
The Rise Of Nollywood: Creators, Entrepreneurs, And Pirates, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
The Rise Of Nollywood: Creators, Entrepreneurs, And Pirates, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
The rise of Nollywood illustrates the revolutionary potential of digital technologies in Africa. Nollywood, or the Nigerian video film industry, reflects technology leapfrogging that is increasingly prominent in Africa today. Such leapfrogging, however, may raise significant issues with respect to legal and other institutions. Film production had largely ceased in Nigeria by the end of the 1980s. Despite this absence, in the early 1990s, Nigeria started on a path that has led it to become the top producer of digital video films in the world. Nigeria is, however, an unlikely locale for the development of a major film industry. In …
Creativity, Improvisation, And Risk: Copyright And Musical Innovation, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Creativity, Improvisation, And Risk: Copyright And Musical Innovation, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
The goals and beneficiaries of copyright frameworks have long been contested in varied contexts. Copyright is often treated as a policy tool that gives creators incentives to create new works. Incentive theories of copyright often emphasize appropriability, which enables copyright owners to ensure that they profit from their copyrighted works by exercising control over uses of, and access to, such works. Although copyright clearly imposes costs in the form of restrictions on access to copyright-protected works and inefficiencies in the form of deadweight loss, the benefits of copyright are thought by many to outweigh the costs. Copyright discussions may at …
Blues Lives: Promise And Perils Of Musical Copyright, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Blues Lives: Promise And Perils Of Musical Copyright, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
The application of copyright law to music has long been fraught with complexities and continuing problems. Problems in the application of copyright to blues music have come to pass, in part, as a result of the peculiar ways in which copyright has been applied to nonvisual technologies of musical creation and reproduction. In the nineteenth century, music creation and reproduction reflected a live performance tradition, within a commercial context in which sheet music was the dominant form of fixed musical reproduction. Although copyright has been an inexact fit for music generally, in a world in which sheet music was the …
The Freedom To Copy: Copyright, Creation And Context, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
The Freedom To Copy: Copyright, Creation And Context, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Although much separates them musically, George Harrison and Michael Bolton share a common legal fate. Both have been held liable in copyright infringement cases in which a court articulated theories of liability based on subconscious infringement. This Article discusses how decisions in the Bolton, Harrison, and other copyright infringement cases reflect a common failing. Such decisions highlight the incomplete nature of the theories of creativity and creation processes in copyright doctrine. After discussing current approaches to questions of creation, this Article suggests ways in which copyright theory can better incorporate a contextualized understanding of creativity and creation processes. Creativity in …
Copyright And Borrowing, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Copyright And Borrowing, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
Borrowing is a norm in much cultural production that should be better incorporated into copyright doctrine. Copyright doctrine governs both the creation and distribution of cultural works, such as literary texts and musical works. Consideration of borrowing and copyright largely relates to the creation side of copyright. A number of terms may be used to illustrate the ways in which new cultural texts relate to existing cultural texts. Further, a significant commentary exists in fields such as literary theory and musicology that discusses and analyzes the significance of such relationships. Terms such as borrowing, self-borrowing, transformative imitation, quotation, allusion, homage, …
Copyright On Catfish Row: Musical Borrowing, Porgy & Bess And Unfair Use, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa
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 …