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Full-Text Articles in Law
In Tort Pursuit Of Mass Media: Big Tobacco, Big Banks, And Their Big Secrets, Richard J. Peltz-Steele, Eric J. Booth
In Tort Pursuit Of Mass Media: Big Tobacco, Big Banks, And Their Big Secrets, Richard J. Peltz-Steele, Eric J. Booth
Faculty Publications
This article examines potential civil liability under the multistate norms of tort and closely related areas in the common law of the United States for the mass media re-publisher of leaked corporate secrets. The examination employs two fact patterns derived from real cases: one, contemporary, an international bank's grievance, never resolved on the merits in court, against the online publisher WikiLeaks; and second, conventional, a tobacco manufacturer's grievance, feared but never filed, against the television newsmagazine 60 Minutes. The study assumes jurisdiction arguendo and examines liability theories in tortious interference; unfair-competition law; and conversion, trade-secret appropriation, and related theories of …
The Forgotten Right Of Fair Use, Ned Snow
The Forgotten Right Of Fair Use, Ned Snow
Faculty Publications
Free speech was once an integral part of copyright law; today it is all but forgotten. At common law, principles of free speech protected those who expressed themselves by using another's expression. Free speech determined whether speakers had infringed a copyright. To prevail on a copyright claim, then, a copyright holder would need to prove that the speaker’s use fell outside the scope of permissible speech - or in other words, that the use was not fair. Where uncertainty prevented that proof, fair use would protect speakers from the suppression of copyright. Today, however, all this has changed. Copyright has …
Fair Use As A Matter Of Law, Ned Snow
Fair Use As A Matter Of Law, Ned Snow
Faculty Publications
Courts have recently abandoned the centuries-old practice of construing fair use as an issue of fact for the jury. Fair use now stands as an issue of law for the judge. This change is threatening traditional contours of copyright law that protect fair-use speech. Courts, then, must reform their current construction of fair use by returning to its origins— fair use as a factual matter for the jury. Yet even if courts do construe fair use as a matter of fact, the question remains whether courts should ever decide fair use as a matter of law. To answer this question, …
Global Warming Trend? The Creeping Indulgence Of Fair Use In International Copyright Law, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Global Warming Trend? The Creeping Indulgence Of Fair Use In International Copyright Law, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Faculty Publications
In her article Toward an International Fair Use Doctrine in 2000, Professor Ruth Okediji hypothesized that the internationalization of copyright law would threaten the freedom of expression if some doctrine akin to U.S. “fair use” were not established as an international legal norm. Acknowledging the central concern of the Okediji article, this paper analyzes research and legal developments since that article to determine how the present state of the “fair use” concept in international copyright law differs from its state in 2000. The paper concludes that in the last eight years, though there has been no formal adoption of an …
F(R)Ee Expression: Reconciling Copyright & The First Amendment, Raymond Shih Ray Ku
F(R)Ee Expression: Reconciling Copyright & The First Amendment, Raymond Shih Ray Ku
Faculty Publications
This essay explores the relationship between copyright and free speech by critically evaluating the proposition that conflicts between the two can be eliminated because the Framers intended both to be engines for free expression. My purpose is not to set forth a comprehensive theory of copyright and free speech, but is more modest. This essay argues that while useful, reference to the Framers' intent only goes so far in avoiding conflicts between copyright and free speech, and when viewed outside of the facts presented by Harper & Row and Eldred, reliance upon the Framers' intent arguably increases such conflicts. Moreover, …