Beyond the Copyright Crisis: Principles for Change

Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA, vol. 55 (2008), pp. 165-199

35 Pages Posted: 1 Apr 2008 Last revised: 9 Jan 2020

Date Written: 2008

Abstract

This essay asks: How did we get into the current crisis of copyright law, and how to move beyond it? This crisis developed as proliferating and expanding rights entered into tensions with each other and with exceptions and limitations. It has become acute as media progress has brought cultural creations online: we now increasingly face ever-harder copyright cases worldwide. This essay proposes principles to help courts resolve such cases: it bases its proposals on the rationales that it finds common to the laws of copyright and of authors' rights. At the start, to assure that such rights operate coherently, they are so defined, and remedies so articulated, that creators may not interfere with each other as they feed culture. Then, to meet real-world informational needs, rights are limited in time and made subject to exceptions from which end-users can benefit by relying on common sense alone. Further, for the sake of clarity and equity in copyright commerce, transfers are to be construed restrictively, and failures to license are to estop subsequent claims. Finally, overriding principles of privacy, of free expression, and of legality set parameters, effectively limitations, for enforcing rights. In conclusion, consequences are provisionally drawn for changing copyright doctrine and law. This essay is amplified in a work in progress posted online and updated, with links to visual examples.

Keywords: copyright, authors' rights, history, culture, crisis, internet, darknet, principles, doctrine, remedies

JEL Classification: K10, K11, K41, K42, L82, L86, L96, O34

Suggested Citation

Geller, Paul Edward, Beyond the Copyright Crisis: Principles for Change (2008). Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA, vol. 55 (2008), pp. 165-199 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1114372

Paul Edward Geller (Contact Author)

Independent ( email )

P.O. Box 491578
Los Angeles, CA 90049
310-440-0047 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://pgeller.com/

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