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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Penumbral Public Domain: Constitutional Limits On Quasi-Copyright Legislation, Aaron K. Perzanowski
The Penumbral Public Domain: Constitutional Limits On Quasi-Copyright Legislation, Aaron K. Perzanowski
Faculty Publications
This Article attempts to reconcile the breadth of the modern Commerce Clause with the notion of meaningful and enforceable limits on Congress' copyright authority under Article I, Section 8, Clause 8.
The Article aims to achieve two objectives. First, it seeks to outline a general approach to identifying and resolving inter-clause conflicts, sketching a methodology that has been lacking in the courts' sparse treatment of such conflicts. Second, it applies that general framework to the copyright power in order to outline the scope of constitutional prohibitions against quasi-copyright protections. In particular, this application focuses on the federal anti-bootlegging statutes and …
The Legal Meaning Of Commerce In The Commerce Clause, Robert G. Natelson
The Legal Meaning Of Commerce In The Commerce Clause, Robert G. Natelson
Faculty Law Review Articles
In this article the author inquires into the meaning of the legal term "commerce" at the the time the Constitution was written, debated, and ratified. The article provides additional support for the conclusion that, for reasons of policy and politics, the founding generation inserted this conceptual and legal boundary into the Constitution and the clear inference from these findings collectively is that the Commerce Clause was designed to give Congress jurisdiction over the law merchant insofar as it pertained to interjurisdictional activities, which was the same jurisdiction that pre-Revolution American pamphleteers had conceded to Parliament.
Part I examines contending definitions …