Law Commons^™

Creative Reading, Jessica Litman

Jessica Litman

In this short essay, a comment on Rebecca Tushnet’s Payment in Credit: Copyright Law and Subcultural Creativity, 70 Law & Contemporary Problems 133 (2007), I argue that copyright scholars have undervalued the copyright interests of readers, listeners and viewers. By ignoring the central importance of audience interests in the copyright scheme, we have all but conceded that the essential policy question in determining whether a use of copyrighted material should be lawful is the way the use looks from the viewpoint of the copyright owner. This approach fails to appreciate that reading, listening, viewing and playing commonly involve significant creativity, …