Copyright and Piracy
An Interdisciplinary Critique

An inquiry into copyright infringement, from perspectives including law, literature, history, economics, music, and modern art.

Lionel Bently (Edited by), Jennifer Davis (Edited by), Jane C. Ginsburg (Edited by)

9780521193436, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 October 2010

502 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.84 kg

An understanding of the changing nature of the law and practice of copyright infringement is a task too big for lawyers alone; it requires additional inputs from economists, historians, technologists, sociologists, cultural theorists and criminologists. Where is the boundary to be drawn between illegal imitation and legal inspiration? Would the answer be different for creators, artists and experts from different disciplines or fields? How have concepts of copyright infringement altered over time and how do such changes relate, if at all, to the cultural norms operating amongst creators in different fields? With such an approach, one might perhaps begin to address the vital and overarching question of whether strong copyright laws, rigorously enforced, impede rather than promote creativity. And what can be done to avoid any such adverse consequences, while maintaining the effectiveness of copyright as an incentive-mechanism for those who need it?

Part I. Introduction: 1. Inspiration or infringement: the plagiarist in court Isabella Alexander
Part II. History: 2. Nineteenth-century Anglo-US copyright relations: the language of piracy versus the moral high ground Catherine Seville
3. Language, practice and history Adrian Johns
Part III. Comparative Law: 4. The metamorphosis of contrefaçon in French copyright law David Lefranc (translated by Sebastien Oddos)
5. A common lawyer's perspective on contrefaçon Jane Ginsburg
Part IV. Economics: 6. Copyright infringement, 'free-riding' and the lifeworld Anne Barron
7. Copyright and the limits of law-and-economics analysis Jonathan Aldred
Part V. Linguistics: 8. 'Substantial similarity of expression' in copyright infringement actions: a linguistic perspective Alan Durant
9. Refining notions of idea and expression through linguistic analysis Graeme B. Dinwoodie
Part VI. Computer Software: 10. Copyright, piracy and software Jon Crowcroft
11. Of plots, puddings and draught-excluders: the law as it applies to the infringement of computer programs Jennifer Davis
Part VII. Information Studies: 12. Measuring text re-use in the news industry Paul Clough
13. Reflections on measuring text re-use from a copyright law perspective Tanya Aplin
Part VIII. Literature: 14. Unoriginal genius: plagiarism and the construction of 'romantic' authorship Nick Groom
15. The genius and the labourer: authorship in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century copyright law Isabella Alexander
Part IX. Art: 16. Piracy and authorship in contemporary art and the artistic commonwealth Daniel Mcclean
17. Copyright's imperfect republic and the artistic commonwealth Jonathan Griffiths
Part X. Sociology and Music: 18. Reggae open source: how the absence of copyright enabled the emergence of popular music in Jamaica Jason Toynbee
19. 'Free-riding on the riddim'? - Open source copyright law and reggae music in Jamaica Johnson Okpaluba.

Subject Areas: Copyright law [LNRC], Intellectual property law [LNR]