A Realist Approach to Copyright Law's Formalities

27 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2014

See all articles by Michael W. Carroll

Michael W. Carroll

American University Washington College of Law

Date Written: June 23, 2014

Abstract

Rejecting the conventional story that formalities in copyright law were abolished by the Berne Convention, this Article demonstrates that privately administered systems of formalities play a significant role in the administration of copyright law worldwide. Indeed, they must because copyright is designed to support a transaction structure which requires rightsholders who seek to attract licensing partners to go through some formal step to identify themselves and the works in which they have a legal or beneficial interest. Canvassing the landscape of mandatory and voluntary public and private systems of formalities, this article argues that: (1) national policymakers retain more policy authority under Berne to impose certain formal requirements on rightsholders than those with a formalist understanding of public formalities argue; (2) private systems of formalities are extensive, economically significant, but are not interoperable with each other in many cases and with voluntary registries and other voluntary public formalities systems; and (3) policymakers should use a mix of approaches to improve the functioning of both public and private formalities systems by promoting or requiring transparency, efficiency, and interoperability in their design and administration.

Keywords: Copyright Law, formalities

Suggested Citation

Carroll, Michael W., A Realist Approach to Copyright Law's Formalities (June 23, 2014). 28 Berkeley Technology Law Journal 1511 (2013), American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2014-34, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2457995

Michael W. Carroll (Contact Author)

American University Washington College of Law ( email )

4300 Nebraska Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016
United States
202-274-4047 (Phone)
202-730-4756 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.wcl.american.edu/faculty/mcarroll/

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
72
Abstract Views
745
Rank
585,002
PlumX Metrics