Law Commons^™

Authors' Rights In France: The Moral Right Of The Creator Of A Commissioned Work To Compel The Commissioning Party To Complete The Work, André Françon, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

The French law protecting authors' rights incorporates two distinct regimes of rights, "pecuniary" rights, and "moral" rights. As the denomination indicates, pecuniary rights pertain to the author's economic interests, and provide the author a monopoly in the reproduction and public performance of his work. Moral rights safeguard the author's "personality" interest in his work. Despite the appellation "moral" rights, the author's claims under French law to the security of his personality as expressed in his work are not precatory: moral rights entail several distinct and enforceable interests. These are: the right to make the work known to the public "droit …

Copyright Law, David Goldberg, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

In 1983 and 1984 the federal courts continued to interpret the changes in copyright law effectuated by the 1976 Copyright Act. During this period the United States Supreme Court decided its first copyright case since adoption of the 1976 Act. In general, the year's decisions tend to accord expanded copyright protection to authors. Several decisions, however, have provoked or exacerbated uncertainties in a number of areas, including the protection accorded nonfiction works, the "fair use" excuse to copyright infringement, and compliance with the U.S. copyright formality of affixing notice to published copies of a work.

Sabotaging And Reconstructing History: A Comment On The Scope Of Copyright Protection In Works Of History After Hoehling V. Universal City Studios, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

This comment examines the Hoehling decision, and attempts a definition, in light of Hoehling and prior decisions, of historical "expression." A definition of historical expression is essential to analysis of an historian's infringement claim. Before the fact-finder determines whether a defendant's work is substantially similar to the historian's work, and if substantially similar, whether the fair use doctrine excuses the apparent infringement, the trial judge must first determine whether, as a matter of law, the portions the historian claims were infringed manifest copyrightable expression. If there is no or insufficient expression, the case closes at the summary judgment stage.

This …