Copyright and Collective Authorship
Locating the Authors of Collaborative Work

Addresses the difficult question of how to determine the authorship, and ownership, of copyright in highly collaborative works.

Daniela Simone (Author)

9781316649091, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 May 2022

325 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 1.6 cm, 0.48 kg

'By and large, the book makes a compelling case for taking collaborative creativity seriously in the long-lasting process of the modernisation of copyright law … also a valuable input for further evidence-based research on the effectiveness of co-authorship rules at national, supranational and international level.' Giulia Priora, European Intellectual Property Review

As technology makes it easier for people to work together, large-scale collaboration is becoming increasingly prevalent. In this context, the question of how to determine authorship – and hence ownership - of copyright in collaborative works is an important question to which current copyright law fails to provide a coherent or consistent answer. In Copyright and Collective Authorship, Daniela Simone engages with the problem of how to determine the authorship of highly collaborative works. Employing insights from the ways in which collaborators understand and regulate issues of authorship, the book argues that a recalibration of copyright law is necessary, proposing an inclusive and contextual approach to joint authorship that is true to the legal concept of authorship but is also more aligned with creative reality.

1. Copyright law and collective authorship
2. Authorship and joint authorship
3. Wikipedia
4. Australian Indigenous art
5. Scientific collaborations
6. Film
7. Characteristics of collective authorship and the role of copyright law
8. An inclusive, contextual approach to the joint authorship test.

Subject Areas: Confidential information law [LNRV], Designs law [LNRL], Trademarks law [LNRF], Patents law [LNRD], Copyright law [LNRC], Intellectual property law [LNR], IT & Communications law [LNQ], Entertainment & media law [LNJ]