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Copyright Law In The Digital Age: Malum In Se And Malum Prohibitum, Sheldon W. Halpern

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

The scale of copyright piracy has changed, allowing creative works to be distributed globally with a click of a mouse. People's attitudes towards infringing on someone else's protected work have changed as well due to the simplicity and speed of the digital infringing process. This lecture discusses how one can tailor copyright law to accommodate technological changes. First, the lecturer discusses how an act of infringement needs to be defined as malum in se rather than malum prohibitum in order for infringement to be taken seriously. The lecturer suggests that a radically different approach to some of the fundamental principles …