Law Commons^™

Copyright's Knowledge Principle, Jenny L. Sheridan

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Article argues that copyright jurisprudence has lost sight of the knowledge principle at the heart of the constitutional justification for copyright. The Framers envisioned the objective of copyright as promoting the advancement of knowledge for a democratic society by increasing access to published works. Under what is best termed the "knowledge principle," access to existing knowledge is a necessary condition for the creation of new knowledge. Copyright jurisprudence has largely protected the interests of producers--from early booksellers to modern Hollywood film companies--failing to notice the central role of access to works as a necessary pre-condition to the creation of …