Search Results

The future

Zohar Efroni

in Access-Right: The Future of Digital Copyright Law

This chapter introduces and explains the outlines of a new framework for dealing with the problem of copyright protection in the digital age. It sketches a model for a copyright system that is ... More

This chapter introduces and explains the outlines of a new framework for dealing with the problem of copyright protection in the digital age. It sketches a model for a copyright system that is designed for the digital information environment while introducing the concept of the access-right that would replace existing exclusive rights when applied to digital works. Under the proposed regulative framework, digital access to works would become the axis around which both exclusivity entitlements and exceptions are tailored.Less

Information

Zohar Efroni

in Access-Right: The Future of Digital Copyright Law

This chapter explores the notion of information. Topics discussed include theoretical approaches to conceptual analysis of information, information as process, a model that depicts the single ... More

This chapter explores the notion of information. Topics discussed include theoretical approaches to conceptual analysis of information, information as process, a model that depicts the single sequence of communication and explains its elements, and application of the model to copyright law.Less

The Individual as Creator

John Tehranian

in Infringement Nation: Copyright 2.0 and You

This chapter focuses on the individual as creator. In so doing, it finds that, although copyright may go too far in vindicating the rights of some creators, it actually does too little for others. ... More

This chapter focuses on the individual as creator. In so doing, it finds that, although copyright may go too far in vindicating the rights of some creators, it actually does too little for others. Formalities lie at the heart of this hierarchy of protection, and they provide insight into the particular interests the modern copyright regime serves. This deconstruction of copyright code is both revealing and instructive. Most prominently, it shatters the myth of American copyright militancy by demonstrating how the United States copyright system is far less protective of creator interests than those of other countries. But just as importantly, it suggests it is not necessarily greater or lesser copyright that is needed, but rather a regime that more fully considers the interests of ordinary individuals acting as both users and creators of creative content.Less

The Individual as Reformer

John Tehranian

in Infringement Nation: Copyright 2.0 and You

This chapter turns to the issue of copyright reform. Although the matter of recasting a Copyright 2.0 for the digital age is wrought with challenges, if offers suggestions to address some of the ... More

This chapter turns to the issue of copyright reform. Although the matter of recasting a Copyright 2.0 for the digital age is wrought with challenges, if offers suggestions to address some of the concerns regarding artistic progress, expressive rights, information access, and technological development raised in the course of the analysis. The reforms focus on three particular goals: restoring the balance between users of and rights-holders to copyrighted content; tempering the disparity between copyright law's treatment of sophisticated and unsophisticated parties; and recalibrating the relationship between transformative users and original creators of copyrighted content.Less

Reclaiming copyright: Constitutional Review And Statutory Interpretation

Christina Bohannan and Herbert Hovenkamp

in Creation without Restraint: Promoting Liberty and Rivalry in Innovation

The Copyright Act serves a combination of public and private interests. Where possible, conflicts between the two should be resolved in favor of the public interest. This approach would sort out some ... More

The Copyright Act serves a combination of public and private interests. Where possible, conflicts between the two should be resolved in favor of the public interest. This approach would sort out some of the most pressing issues in copyright law today. The most troublesome aspects of copyright expansion over the past few decades include a longer copyright term, broad reproduction and derivative works rights, and digital rights in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that prevent uses previously thought to be noninfringing. Yet, copyright doctrines such as the idea/expression dichotomy and fair use protect the rights of the public to use portions of copyrighted works. This chapter discusses how courts can use constitutional adjudication and statutory interpretation to define the scope of these provisions and resolve ambiguities among them in order to restore copyright's balance of incentives and access.Less

Conclusion: Copyright, Consecration, and Control

John Tehranian

in Infringement Nation: Copyright 2.0 and You

This concluding chapter summarizes the discussions in the preceding chapters and presents some concluding thoughts. This book has traced the history and evolution of copyright law and its profound ... More

This concluding chapter summarizes the discussions in the preceding chapters and presents some concluding thoughts. This book has traced the history and evolution of copyright law and its profound impact on the lives of ordinary individuals in the 21st century. Using the trope of the individual in five different copyright-related contexts it has charted the changing contours of the United States copyright regime and assessed its vitality in the digital age. In the process, it has questioned some of the most basic assumptions about copyright law. Copyright has the power to shape the fundamental structure of our information society. The stakes at play in any copyright reform process are therefore critical. This is true not just for the content-creation industries, policy wonks, or intellectual property scholars. It is a matter of importance for us all.Less

Creating

WILLIAM CORNISH

in Intellectual Property: Omnipresent, Distracting, Irrelevant?

This chapter focuses on the second major field in which intellectual property rights (IPRs) are accorded over the commercialisation of ideas. This is the territory of literary, musical, and artistic ... More

This chapter focuses on the second major field in which intellectual property rights (IPRs) are accorded over the commercialisation of ideas. This is the territory of literary, musical, and artistic creation. Topics discussed include copyrights and patents, digitised works, copyright discipline, unlicensed provision of copyright material, and permissible uses of copyright material.Less

Adaptation, Imitation, and Innovation

Michael Keane, Anthony Fung, and Albert Moran

in New Television, Globalisation, and the East Asian Cultural Imagination

This chapter focuses on the legal mechanisms for protecting TV-program formats. The practice of imitation in media industries has led the way in policing copyright protection. When writers of TV ... More

This chapter focuses on the legal mechanisms for protecting TV-program formats. The practice of imitation in media industries has led the way in policing copyright protection. When writers of TV formats, producers, or broadcasters seek to protect their investment, they have to rely on cobbling together a jigsaw of pieces drawn from different areas of intellectual property law. In particular, format protection has been sought through four legal instruments: copyright, breach of confidence, passing-off, and an assortment of law to do with trademarks, patents, and so on.Less

Moral Rights in the International Copyright Regime

Mira T. Sundara Rajan

in Moral Rights: Principles, Practice and New Technology

This chapter presents an overview of the international copyright regime and the global status of moral rights. The global system for copyright protection defines the environment for moral rights. ... More

This chapter presents an overview of the international copyright regime and the global status of moral rights. The global system for copyright protection defines the environment for moral rights. International agreements have included some form of protection for moral rights since 1928, first appearing in the Berne Convention. Since then, their international presence has grown in two ways. First, moral rights have been adopted and modernized in an unprecedented number of jurisdictions, including a historic number of common law countries. Second, the specific question of how moral rights should respond to new technology has begun to be addressed by the WIPO Internet Treaties. The Treaties make an explicit attempt to create digital moral rights, in the form of a new moral right for performers.Less

Fundamentals of Protection (Articles 3–6 and 18–20)

Sam Ricketson and Jane C Ginsburg

in International Copyright and Neighbouring Rights: The Berne Convention and Beyond

This chapter evaluates articles 3-6 and 18-20 of the Berne Convention. Whereas articles 3-6 concern the ‘front end’ issues of admission to, and the regime of, protection, articles 18-20 address what ... More

This chapter evaluates articles 3-6 and 18-20 of the Berne Convention. Whereas articles 3-6 concern the ‘front end’ issues of admission to, and the regime of, protection, articles 18-20 address what one might call the ‘back end’ of the Convention: its retroactive application, its effect upon national legislation, and its relation to other agreements, whether existing or future, between member countries. The chapter examines the development and current norms of the Convention regarding admission to protection and the regime of protection under the Berne Convention, before turning to the impact of subsequent agreements involving Union countries, including the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights 1994 (TRIPs Agreement) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty (WCT). With regard to admission to protection, it addresses points of attachment and country of origin. Meanwhile, the analysis of the regime of protection focuses on the rule of national treatment, substantive minima of protection, and retroactive application of the Convention in the case of new accessions.Less

Marginally Original and Functional Works of Authorship

in The Soul of Creativity: Forging a Moral Rights Law for the United States

This chapter considers works whose level of originality, while perhaps sufficient to obtain copyright protection, is nonetheless arguably too low to qualify for the stronger protections for textual ... More

This chapter considers works whose level of originality, while perhaps sufficient to obtain copyright protection, is nonetheless arguably too low to qualify for the stronger protections for textual integrity addressed in this book. It argues that while certain functional types of works should be excluded per se from moral rights protection, other works such as art, literature, music, and even architecture presumptively should qualify if a sufficient showing of originality can be made with respect to the particular work at issue. For many works, the requisite level of originality likely will not be an issue. For works at the margins, however, courts will have to decide whether a heightened originality standard with substantial creativity has been met. Any originality determination thus will necessitate at least some judicial evaluation of the artistic rank of a given work.Less

Your Face Doesn’t Go Anywhere: Cultural Production and Legal Subjectivity

Boatema Boateng

in The Copyright Thing Doesn't Work Here: Adinkra and Kente Cloth and Intellectual Property in Ghana

This chapter discusses how both adinkra and kente makers and musicians fight for the copyright protection of their products. Ghanaian recording artists and producers began to press for more effective ... More

This chapter discusses how both adinkra and kente makers and musicians fight for the copyright protection of their products. Ghanaian recording artists and producers began to press for more effective copyright protection of their work in the late 1970s after cassette recording technology became widely available in Ghana. Ghanaian cloth producers, however, did not ask the government for the protection of their product. A lobbying group of musicians were instrumental in shaping various aspects of the country’s intellectual property law since Ghana’s independence in 1957. They demonstrate that the ownership claims around different kinds of cultural production are dependent on the capacity to relate to the state as a citizen and legal subject.Less

The Berne Convention and Neighbouring Rights

Sam Ricketson and Jane C Ginsburg

in International Copyright and Neighbouring Rights: The Berne Convention and Beyond

This chapter evaluates the international agreements that have sought to provide protection to the categories of ‘non-authors’ whose productions may nevertheless be seen as closely relating to, or ... More

This chapter evaluates the international agreements that have sought to provide protection to the categories of ‘non-authors’ whose productions may nevertheless be seen as closely relating to, or neighbouring upon, the traditional categories of authors’ rights. It begins with an account of the first major treaty in this area, the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisation Organizations 1961 (the Rome Convention), and then considers the international agreements that have followed in the wake of Rome. These include Phonograms Convention 1971, the Satellites Convention 1974, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty 1996 (WPPT), the Beijing Treaty on Audio-visual Performances 2012 (BTAP), and the relevant provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights 1994 (TRIPs Agreement). The chapter also looks at a number of other agreements touching upon authors’ and neighbouring rights. Several of these have never entered into force or have not yet reached the stage of a final text.Less

Duration of Protection (Articles 7 and 7^bis; TRIPS Agreement, Article 12; Wct, Article 9)

Sam Ricketson and Jane C Ginsburg

in International Copyright and Neighbouring Rights: The Berne Convention and Beyond

This chapter addresses articles 7 and 7bis, which concern the duration of copyright protection. The first permissive rule concerning duration of protection appeared in the Berlin Act (article 7(1)), ... More

This chapter addresses articles 7 and 7bis, which concern the duration of copyright protection. The first permissive rule concerning duration of protection appeared in the Berlin Act (article 7(1)), and was made absolute and binding in the Brussels Act. It was accompanied by a number of supplementary rules relating to the term of protection in specific cases. Duration is one of the most important issues in international copyright relations, and in this respect the Berne Convention’s achievements have been impressive so far as impact at the national level is concerned. It is also a striking instance where the Convention has had an educative effect in bringing about such changes in the domestic laws of Union countries, rather than simply reflecting changes that had already occurred in those laws. But where the Convention had once set the prevailing (and generous) minimum term, more recently, many of the Union’s most significant member states, including the countries of the European Union and the USA, have adopted yet longer terms. The resulting disharmony has prompted bilateral negotiations as Union countries who have implemented longer terms seek to persuade those who have yet to exceed the Conventional minimum.Less

The Programmer as Author: Moral Rights in Information Technology

Mira T. Sundara Rajan

in Moral Rights: Principles, Practice and New Technology

This chapter examines moral rights in two contrasting manifestations of information technology. First, it discusses the place of moral rights in works of new technology that are now accepted ... More

This chapter examines moral rights in two contrasting manifestations of information technology. First, it discusses the place of moral rights in works of new technology that are now accepted subject-matter for copyright protection. It looks at the paradigmatic case of computer software and databases. Second, it explores the collision of new technology with the world of the arts and considers three aspects of the problem. It considers the moral rights implications of new kinds of artistic works; creative works that are created by new technological methods; and artistic creation that represents a combination of the two. In many ways, information technology represents a test case for moral rights in the digital context. Computer software has been integrated whole heartedly into copyright law. At the same time, software and related technologies challenge copyright at a fundamental level.Less

Human Rights Laws and Authorship Norms

in The Soul of Creativity: Forging a Moral Rights Law for the United States

This chapter examines a relatively uncharted area within the study of American intellectual property law—the role of human rights and authorship norms. The history of the International Bill of Human ... More

This chapter examines a relatively uncharted area within the study of American intellectual property law—the role of human rights and authorship norms. The history of the International Bill of Human Rights demonstrates that although there may not have been a universal consensus as to whether moral rights are human rights, there was a significant recognition that these interests are deemed worthy of protection in a human rights framework. Thus, rather than focusing on whether moral rights are within the scope of human rights, the better question is whether the widespread recognition of moral rights means they should be considered as “authorship norms.” The chapter ultimately calls for a broader spectrum of theoretical justifications for copyright law than the utilitarian framework typically invoked to justify copyright protections. A more fluid view of copyright generally allows for the incorporation of enhanced moral rights into our legal system.Less

The Development of International Copyright Relations

Sam Ricketson and Jane C Ginsburg

in International Copyright and Neighbouring Rights: The Berne Convention and Beyond

This chapter traces the development of international copyright relations. Although the legal theories underlying copyright protection differ greatly from country to country, the origins of this form ... More

This chapter traces the development of international copyright relations. Although the legal theories underlying copyright protection differ greatly from country to country, the origins of this form of protection in each are strikingly similar: the grant of exclusive printing rights or privileges which were made to printers and booksellers by national authorities soon after the introduction of printing in Europe in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The chapter then looks at the Act of Anne in the UK, which granted to authors and their assigns a short period of statutory protection for their books, as well as French copyright law. Despite the broad similarities, great differences still remained between the provisions of the various national copyright laws. The chapter provides a brief comparative survey of these national measures, considering the kinds of works protected, the duration of protection, the rights recognized, the restrictions on the exercise of these rights, and the formalities required for protection. It also addresses the problem of international piracy of foreign works.Less

Women, Risk, and Intellectual Property: Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot in the 1860s

Clare Pettitt

in Patent Inventions - Intellectual Property and the Victorian Novel

In March 1856, a petition was presented in the British Parliament, by Lord Brougham in the Upper House and by Sir Erskine Perry in the Commons. The petition called for property rights for married ... More

In March 1856, a petition was presented in the British Parliament, by Lord Brougham in the Upper House and by Sir Erskine Perry in the Commons. The petition called for property rights for married women, but what is striking is that it was submitted by, and rapidly became associated very closely with, female literary writers. This chapter examines how women writers in Victorian England negotiated the inheritance of a highly gendered model of creativity and intellectual property, focusing on Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot. Unlike William Thackeray and Charles Dickens, Gaskell and Eliot were not publicly involved with the debate about authorship in the 1850s, or with the campaign to improve copyright protection.Less