Law Commons^™

A Realist Approach To Copyright Law's Formalities, Michael W. Carroll

Michael W. Carroll

Rejecting the conventional story that formalities in copyright law were abolished by the Berne Convention, this Article demonstrates that privately administered systems of formalities play a significant role in the administration of copyright law worldwide. Indeed, they must because copyright is designed to support a transaction structure which requires rightsholders who seek to attract licensing partners to go through some formal step to identify themselves and the works in which they have a legal or beneficial interest. Canvassing the landscape of mandatory and voluntary public and private systems of formalities, this article argues that: (1) national policymakers retain more policy …

Brief Of Amicus Curiae Academic Authors And Legal Scholars In Support Of Defendants Appellees And Affirmance, Nos. 12-14676-Ff, 12-15147-Ff (April 25, 2013), David R. Hansen, Peter A. Jazsi, Pamela Samuelson, Jason Schultz, Rebecca Tushnet

David R Hansen

No abstract provided.

The Canadian Public Domain: What, Where, And To What End?, Carys J. Craig

Carys Craig

This essay explores the important body of scholarship that has emerged on the substance, nature, and role of the public domain in intellectual property law. I offer some concrete definitions of the public domain in the copyright context, identify some ongoing sources of debate in the literature, and highlight some particularly significant voices in public domain discourse. In doing so, my aim is twofold: first, I mean to present a reasonably comprehensive but concise review of the academic public domain movement, which has been directed towards substantiating and politicizing the concept of the public domain, second, I hope to re-situate …

Digital Locks And The Fate Of Fair Dealing In Canada: In Pursuit Of 'Prescriptive Parallelism', Carys J. Craig

Carys Craig

The enactment of anti-circumvention laws in Canada appears imminent and all but inevitable. This article considers the threats posed by technical protection measures and anti-circumvention laws to fair dealing and other lawful uses of protected works, and so to the copyright system more generally. The argument adopts, as its normative starting point, the principle of "prescriptive parallelism" according to which the traditional copyright balance of rights and exceptions should be preserved in the digital environment. Looking to the experiences of other nations, the article explores potential routes towards reconciling technical protection measures with copyright limits, and maintaining a substantive continuity …

Out Of Tune: Why Copyright Law Needs Music Lessons, Carys Craig

Carys Craig

This chapter offers a critical analysis of copyright law that integrates insights from music. The authors argue that the unique qualities of musical works magnify the mismatch between creative practices and copyright doctrine, and suggest that an interdisciplinary analysis can shine a revealing light on both the problem and potential paths to improvement. Beginning with an overview of copyright doctrine in Canada in respect of musical works and music infringement claims, the authors then borrow analytical concepts from the discipline of music theory to problematize copyright’s “reasonable listener” test for determining substantial copying. Using a specially-designed musical composition, the authors …

Performance, Property, And The Slashing Of Gender In Fan Fiction , Sonia K. Katyal

Sonia Katyal

Today, it is no secret that the regime of copyright law, once an often-overlooked footnote to our legal system of property, now occupies a central position in modern debates surrounding the relationship between freedom of expression, language, and ownership. Curiously, however, while contemporary scholarship on copyright now embraces a wide range of political and economic approaches, it has often failed to consider how intellectual property law - as it is owned, constituted, created, and enforced - both benefits and disadvantages segments of the population in divergent ways. This absence is both vexing and fascinating. While issues of distributive justice have …

Performance, Property, And The Slashing Of Gender In Fan Fiction , Sonia K. Katyal

Sonia Katyal

Today, it is no secret that the regime of copyright law, once an often-overlooked footnote to our legal system of property, now occupies a central position in modern debates surrounding the relationship between freedom of expression, language, and ownership. Curiously, however, while contemporary scholarship on copyright now embraces a wide range of political and economic approaches, it has often failed to consider how intellectual property law - as it is owned, constituted, created, and enforced - both benefits and disadvantages segments of the population in divergent ways. This absence is both vexing and fascinating. While issues of distributive justice have …

Fair Use: Its Application, Limitations And Future. , Sonia Katyal, Paul Aiken, Laura Quilter, David O. Carson, John, Jr. G. Palfrey, Hugh C. Hansen

Sonia Katyal

No abstract provided.

Extending Copyright Protection To Combat Free-Riding By Digital News Aggregators And Online Search Engines, Nancy Whitmore

Nancy J. Whitmore

No abstract provided.

Copyrights, Privacy, And The Blockchain, Tom W. Bell

Tom W. Bell