Information as IP Subject Matter
47 Pages Posted: 2 Feb 2010 Last revised: 12 Apr 2014
Date Written: February 1, 2010
Abstract
This paper is a draft chapter from a forthcoming book on copyright law in the digital environment. This chapter (Draft Chapter 1 in the book) addresses the basic question of information as subject matter of IP regulation, especially in the context of copyright law. It develops a conception of information that seeks to descriptively and prescriptively inform the debate over property-like rights in "information" at a rather abstract level. The paper further suggests that this conception is applicable to numerous questions of regulation, policy and judicial interpretation.
Keywords: copyright, information subject matter, intellectual property, information theory, communication theory
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