Law Commons^™

Payment In Credit: Copyright Law And Subcultural Creativity, Rebecca Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Copyright lawyers talk and write a lot about the uncertainties of fair use and the deterrent effects of a clearance culture on publishers, teachers, filmmakers, and the like, but we know less about the choices people make about copyright on a daily basis, especially when they are not at work. Thus, this article examines one subcultural group that engages in a variety of practices, from pure copying and distribution of others' works to creation of new stories, art, and audiovisual works: the media-fan community. Fans justify their unauthorized derivative works as legitimate, no matter what formal copyright law says, with …

Fixing Through Legislative Fixation: A Call For The Codification And Modernization Of The Staple Article Of Commerce Doctrine As It Applies To Copyright Law, Blake Evan Reese

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Courts have misinterpreted and disagreed over how to apply relevant principles of patent law to copyright cases in an effort to strike a balance between protecting copyright holders' rights without restricting innovation. The author argues that courts have inflicted damage upon the balance of copyright's competing policies, leaving copyright owners and technology innovators facing great uncertainty. The author's Comment addresses the development of the Staple Defense and the logical reasoning supporting a new legislative proposal.

Pretty Woman Meets The Man Who Wears The Star: Fair Use After Campbell V. Acuff-Rose Music And American Geophysical Union V. Texaco, Anne E. Forkner, James S. Heller, Patrick F. Speice Jr.

Library Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Commercial Speech Jurisprudence And Copyright In Commercial Information Works, Alfred C. Yen

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Protection Of Databases, Daniel J. Gervais

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In Parts I and II of this Paper, the author analyzes the legal protection of databases first in international treaties, in particular the Berne Convention and the WTO TRIPS Agreement, and second under national and regional copyright, sui generis, or other (e.g., tort) law in Europe (both the European Directive on the legal protection of databases of 1996, which was under review, and a number of relevant national laws), the United States, and a number of foreign jurisdictions (Australia, Canada, China, Nigeria, Russia, and Singapore). In Part III, the author provides a critical analysis of the effort to expand the …

Copyright's Empire: Why The Law Matters, Alina Ng

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Previous intellectual property literature demands a balance between incentives to produce for the creator of a work and access to information, knowledge, and content by the users. However, law and economics jurisprudence does not provide compelling arguments to support the notion that the copyright monopoly is the most efficient way to maximize public welfare by promoting the works of authors. The social cost from expansion of private rights is nonexistent because market structures change as technologies develop, providing society with increased accessibility to creative works. Accordingly, copyright laws need to expand as technology develops in order to realize a fair …

Maintaining Competition In Copying: Narrowing The Scope Of Gene Patents, Oskar Liivak

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In supporting gene patents, the patent office, the courts and other supporters have assumed that gene discoveries are identical to traditional inventions and therefore the patent system should treat them as identical. In other words, they have assumed that the relatively broad claims that are used for traditional inventions are also appropriate for encouraging gene discovery. This article examines this assumption and finds that gene discoveries are critically different from traditional inventions and concludes that the patent system cannot treat them as identical.

As a doctrinal matter, this article applies the generally overlooked constitutional requirements of inventorship and originality and …

Draft Of Fair Use And Face-To-Face Bargaining - 2007, Wendy J. Gordon

Scholarship Chronologically

Alex has a ten-year-old cassette of a favorite movie. Unfortunately, she does not have a video cassette player. She wants to copy the movie onto her iPod. To do this, she borrows a VCR from a friend, runs a cable to a video capture port on my computer, reformats the file into something the iPod can read, and sends the file to the iPod, which she will use to watch the movie in the future. After the file is securely on the iPod, she will delete all records of the movie from my computer. Destroy the original VHS copy seems …

Discovering Injury? The Confused State Of The Statute Of Limitations For Federal Copyright Infringement. , John Ramirez

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Marriage Of Convenience? A Comment On The Protection Of Databases, Jane C. Ginsburg

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Copyright, Translations, And Relations Between Britain And India In The Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Centuries, Lionel Bently

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This paper examines the tension between trade and development, and its handling in multiple layers of law-making through an historical case study concerning copyright in India in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. The paper explains the emergence of views in the Government of India of what copyright law should cover that reflected longstanding but not unproblematic assumptions about India's need for European knowledge and learning. The belief that India needed access to European knowledge informed resistance to the desires of British publishers that copyright owners should be able to control the making of translations of their works. These divergences between …

Creative Lawmaking: A Comment On Lionel Bently, Copyright, Translations, And Relations Between Britain And India In The Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Centuries, Rochelle C. Dreyfuss

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property, Free Trade Agreements And Economic Development, Anselm Kamperman Sanders

Georgia State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Protection Of Databases, Daniel J. Gervais

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In Parts I and II of this Paper, the author analyzes the legal protection of databases first in international treaties, in particular the Berne Convention and the WTO TRIPS Agreement, and second under national and regional copyright, sui generis, or other (e.g., tort) law in Europe (both the European Directive on the legal protection of databases of 1996, which was under review, and a number of relevant national laws), the United States, and a number of foreign jurisdictions (Australia, Canada, China, Nigeria, Russia, and Singapore). In Part III, the author provides a critical analysis of the effort to expand the …

Fitting United States Copyright Law Into The International Scheme: Foreign And Domestic Challenges To Recent Legislation, Michael B. Landau

Georgia State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Life Of An Author: Samuel Egerton Brydges And The Copyright Act 1814, Ronan Deazley

Georgia State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Does Grokster Create A Cause Of Action That Could Implicate The Apple Tv?., Jill David

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Bollywood Is Coming! Copyright And Film Industry Issues Regarding International Film Co-Productions Involving India, Timm Neu

Cornell Law School J.D. Student Research Papers

The Indian film industry produces more movies than any other and is characterized as being on the threshold of emerging as a big market internationally with an expected growth rate of close to 20% per year. Its regulatory and legal mechanisms are developing rapidly to keep pace. This article is dedicated to the Indian film industry and its international potential. It analyzes the copyright aspects of film co-productions involving India and compares the characteristics of the national film industries of Germany, the U.S. and especially India (Bollywood) from a legal perspective. It points to key copyright issues in the field …

Codifying A Commons: Copyright, Copyleft, And The Creative Commons Project, Adrienne K. Goss

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In response to problems of overprotection perceived in America's copyright scheme, the founders of the Creative Commons project have sought to create modular licenses allowing authors and artists to declaim some of the default protections associated with their copyright in order to grant public permission for use of their work in contexts such as nonprofit media or derivative works. This article reviews criticisms of the Creative Commons project and analyzes the project from the standpoint of copyright's overall policy goals, both domestically and internationally. Because copyright policy seeks to enhance the public supply of information and knowledge, the article concludes …

Payment In Credit: Copyright Law And Subcultural Creativity, Rebecca Tushnet

Law and Contemporary Problems

Copyright lawyers talk and write a lot about the uncertainties of fair use and the deterrent effects of a clearance culture on publishers, teachers, filmmakers, and the like, but know less about the choices people make about copyright on a daily basis, especially when they are not working. Here, Tushnet examines one subcultural group that engages in a variety of practices, from pure copying and distribution of others' works to creation of new stories, art, and audiovisual works: the media-fan community. Among other things, she discusses some differences between fair use and fan practices, focused around attribution as an alternative …

A Copyright Conundrum: Protecting Email Privacy, Ned Snow

Faculty Publications

The practice of email forwarding deprives email senders of privacy. Expression meant for only a specific recipient often finds its way into myriad inboxes or onto a public website, exposed for all to see. Simply by clicking the "forward" button, email recipients routinely strip email senders of expressive privacy. The common law condemns such conduct. Beginning over two-hundred-fifty years ago, courts recognized that authors of personal correspondence hold property rights in their expression. Under common-law copyright, authors held a right to control whether their correspondence was published to third parties. This common-law protection of private expression was nearly absolute, immune …

"By Night She Fought For Fair Use": Restoring The Integrity Of Copyright Law, One Comic-Book Reader At A Time, Jessica Sawyer Wang

Michigan Law Review

Students of copyright law quickly learn that the subject is counterintuitive. One of the first revelations of this is-somewhat alarmingly-the purpose of copyright itself. Contrary to popular belief, copyright is not just about protecting an artist's creation, but sharing it. Simultaneously protecting a work and sharing it helps to fulfill the Constitution's mandate that Congress "promote the Progress of Science ... by securing for limited Times to Authors ... the exclusive Right to their ... Writings." In other words, Congress is to promote learning and the advancement of our culture. The symbiosis of protecting and sharing is effected through the …

Creative Reading, Jessica Litman

Law and Contemporary Problems

Litman argues that by ignoring the central importance of readers, listeners, viewers, and players in the copyright scheme, 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 is conceded. The comfort level supplied by an implied license analysis is emblematic of the failure to pay enough attention to reader interests and there is need to take another look at copyright, keeping the significance of readers, listeners, and viewers in mind. Furthermore, failure to pay sufficient attention to the interests of readers, …

Should A Licensing Market Require Licensing?, Mark A. Lemley

Law and Contemporary Problems

Many circumstances fair use should separate the idea that the copyright owner should be compensated for a use from the idea that the copyright owner should be able to control that use. The licensing-market cases provide a perfect vehicle for dividing rights but if a use is considered unfair because the copyright owner could have gotten paid to permit that use, the argument may or may not justify compensating the copyright owner for the loss, but it does not justify giving the copyright owner control over the defendant's use. Here, Lemley explains the development of the licensing-market rationale, critiques of …

Authorizing Copyright Infringement And The Control Requirement: A Look At P2p File-Sharing And Distribution Of New Technology In The U.K., Australia, Canada, And Singapore, Jeffrey C.J. Lee

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The doctrine of authorizing copyright infringement has been used to deal with the marketing of new Ttechnology that might be employed by a user to infringe copyright, from the distribution of blank cassette tapes and double-cassette tape recorders to photocopiers. It is being tested yet again with the distribution of peer-to-peer file-sharing software that enables the online exchange of MP3 music and other copyrighted files. This article looks at the different positions adopted in several Commonwealth jurisdictions, and examines the policy considerations behind these positions. It looks at, in particular, the recent Australian case of Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd. …

Fixing Fair Use, Michael W. Carroll

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The fair use doctrine in copyright law balances expressive freedoms by permitting one to use another's copyrighted expression under certain circumstances. The doctrine's extreme context-sensitivity renders it of little value to those who require reasonable ex ante certainty about the legality of a proposed use. In this Article, Professor Carroll advances a legislative proposal to create a Fair Use Board in the U.S. Copyright Office that would have power to declare a proposed use of another's copyrighted work to be a fair use. Like a private letter ruling from the IRS or a “no action” letter from the SEC, a …

Bringing Sexy Back: Unauthorized Film Editing, Copyright, And How Removing Reproductive Acts Violates Reproduction Rights, Logan Clare

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Lose The Illusion: Why Advertisers' Use Of Digital Product Placement Violates Actors' Right Of Publicity, Brandon D. Almond

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Broadcasting The 2006 World Cup: The Right Of Arab Fans Versus Art Exclusivity, Bashar H. Malkawi

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.