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Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Law
Copyright, Computer Software, And Work Made For Hire, Matthew R. Harris
Copyright, Computer Software, And Work Made For Hire, Matthew R. Harris
Michigan Law Review
Prior to the Supreme Court's 1989 decision in Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, the Circuits had disagreed over the question of whether independent contractors could qualify as "employees" under the doctrine. The Fifth, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits defined "employee" narrowly, thereby excluding the majority of commissioned works from potential work for hire status. Applying a much broader definition of the term, the Second and Seventh Circuits included virtually all commissioned works as work for hire. The disagreement was not surprising, since the copyright statute does not include a definition of the term, and the legislative history fails to …
Copyright Law And The Myth Of Objectivity: The Idea-Expression Dichotomy And The Inevitability Of Artistic Value Judgments, Amy B. Cohen
Copyright Law And The Myth Of Objectivity: The Idea-Expression Dichotomy And The Inevitability Of Artistic Value Judgments, Amy B. Cohen
Faculty Scholarship
ThIs Article focuses on the problem of how artistic values affect determinatlons of copyright management. It discusses how the copyright statutes embody a congressional desire to have determinations of eligibility for copyright made without regard for the artistic value of the work at issue. This Article also explores the dangers that Justice Holmes and those who have followed hIs lead saw in using assessments of artIstic value to make copyright decIsIons. It also discusses how assessments of artistic value influence copyright infrIngement determInations, specifically through the application of the idea-expression dichotomy, a principle used to determine whether the copyright in …
A Tale Of Two Copyrights: Literary Property In Revolutionary France And America, Jane C. Ginsburg
A Tale Of Two Copyrights: Literary Property In Revolutionary France And America, Jane C. Ginsburg
Faculty Scholarship
The French and U.S. copyright systems are well known as opposites. The product of the French Revolution, French copyright law is said to enshrine the author: exclusive rights flow from one's (preferred) status as a creator. For example, a leading French copyright scholar states that one of the "fundamental ideas" of the revolutionary copyright laws is the principle that "an exclusive right is conferred on authors because their property is the most justified since it flows from their intellectual creation." By contrast, the U.S. Constitution's copyright clause, echoing the English Statute of Anne, makes the public's interest equal, if not …
International Copyright From An American Perspective, Marshall A. Leaffer
International Copyright From An American Perspective, Marshall A. Leaffer
Articles by Maurer Faculty
No abstract provided.
The Public Domain, Jessica D. Litman
The Public Domain, Jessica D. Litman
Articles
This article examines the public domain by looking at the gulf between what authors really do and the way the law perceives them. Part I outlines the basics of copyright as a species of property and introduces the public domain's place within the copyright scheme. Copyright grants authors" ' rights modeled on real property in order to encourage authorship by providing authors with markets in which they can seek compensation for their creations. Because parcels of authorship are intangible, however, the law faces *problems in determining the ownership and boundaries of its property grants. In particular, the concept of "originality," …
Creation And Commercial Value: Copyright Protection Of Works Of Information, Jane C. Ginsburg
Creation And Commercial Value: Copyright Protection Of Works Of Information, Jane C. Ginsburg
Faculty Scholarship
In 1899, Augustine Birrell, a Victorian barrister, lamented: "The question of copyright has, in these latter days, with so many other things, descended into the market-place, and joined the wrangle of contending interests and rival greedinesses." Birrell's remark conveys distaste for those authors who would "realise the commercial value of their wares." But the question of copyright has always been joined with that of commercial value. Indeed, by affording authors limited monopoly protection for their writings, our Constitution relies on wrangling greed to promote the advancement of both creativity and profit. Nonetheless, the distinction Birrell implies between copyrightworthy works of …
Copyright In The 101st Congress: Commentary On The Visual Artists Rights Act And The Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act Of 1990, Jane C. Ginsburg
Copyright In The 101st Congress: Commentary On The Visual Artists Rights Act And The Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act Of 1990, Jane C. Ginsburg
Faculty Scholarship
In the Visual Artists Rights Act, Congress has for the first time included moral rights within the U.S. copyright statute. Well-known in continental European copyright doctrine, and secured by the Berne Convention, moral rights afford protection for the author's personal, non-economic interests in receiving attribution for her work, and in preserving the work in the form in which it was created, even after its sale or licensing. These rights of attribution (sometimes infelicitously labeled the "right of paternity") and of integrity are conceptually distinct from the economic rights of exploitation set forth in section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act. …