Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Normalizing Copyright In The Electronic Environment, Vicenç Feliú

Vicenç Feliú

This article is an update of an article written by Professor Ann Bartow in 2003 entitled Electrifying Copyright Norms and Making Cyberspace More Like a Book. In Electrifying Bartow examined the social norms applied when using copyrighted works in the analog world, she explains how social norms develop, coalesce, and become de facto rules of behavior. She proposed that, at the time the article was written, real world copyright norms were not making their way into cyberspace because copyright holders were using their own normative view to exercise control of works embodied in electronic formats. She focused on non-profit libraries …

Orphans In Turmoil: How A Legislative Solution Can Help Put The Orphan Works Dilemma To Rest, Vicenç Feliú

Vicenç Feliú

The orphan works issue has continued to grow in the United States despite strong efforts to find a workable solution. Stakeholders on both sides of the issue have proposed and opposed both solutions and compromises that could have alleviated the problem and are still no closer to an agreement. This paper posits that the solutions offered in the proposed legislation of 2006 and 2008 provide a strong working foundation for a legislative answer to the issue. To create a workable solution to the orphan works issue, a new legislative effort would have to take into account the questions raised by …

A Closer Look: A Symposium Among Legal Historians And Law Librarians To Uncover The Spanish Roots Of Louisiana Civil Law, Vicenç Feliú, Dennis Kim-Prieto, Teresa Miguel

Vicenç Feliú

The debate regarding whether the origin of Louisiana civil law is based in the Spanish or in the French legal tradition has been ongoing since that state’s incorporation into the United States as a result of the Louisiana Purchase. Distinguished legal scholars have argued in favor of one tradition being dominant over the other, and each has been staunch in support of that view. This article proposes and demonstrates that the Spanish, not French, civil law had an enormous influence on the creation and evolution of Louisiana civil law, and that this legacy resonates today.

The article begins with a …