Copyright and Free Speech Comparative and International Analysis

Author: Jonathan Griffiths; Uma Suthersanen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199276042
Published In: March 2005
Format: Hardback , 476 pages
Jurisdiction: International ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

Out of stock

Description
Contents
Author
Reviews

Details

A rigorous comparative and international investigation of the relationship between copyright and free speech, covering key jurisdictions such as the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and the EU
The contributors are leading scholars and practitioners from the UK, the US and Europe, thereby offering a rounded and reliable analysis of the subject
Deals comprehensively with a very topical subject, including access to information, digital challenges, and human rights

Written by a team of leading scholars and practitioners in the fields of copyright and free speech, this work analyses the potential for interaction and conflict between the two rights.

Free speech is the lifeblood of any democracy. As John Stuart Mill stated, "In government, perfect freedom of discussion in all its modes - speaking, writing, and printing - in law and in fact is the first requisite of good because the first condition of popular intelligence and mental progress." (Letter by John Stuart Mill, 18 March, 1840) Copyright, on the other hand, represent a property regime which protects human creativity as manifested in all types of expressions such as literary works, paintings and music. Both these notions, copyright and free speech, are united in the fact of their recognition as fundamental freedoms of all individuals within the national, regional and international framework of human rights. However, the rights are also antithetical in nature, giving rise to both political and jurisprudential tensions.

These tensions have become recently accentuated by the advent of legislative developments. Both in the United States and within the European Union, legal commentators argue that recent copyright legislation has paid insufficient regard to free speech. This concern is underlined by the series of First Amendment challenges that have been brought against the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The recent causes celèbres not only highlight the antagonistic relationship between copyright and free speech but also prominently depict the potential conflict between public and private interests in information - the Dead Sea Scrolls decision (Israel), the Wind Done Gone, Eldred and DeCSS cases (United States) and the

Hyde Park v Yelland

and

Ashdown v Telegraph Group

(United Kingdom). A further query which requires attention is the impact of the growing significance of international copyright law for the developing world.

The raised profile of these conflicts has resulted in an increasing amount of attention from academe and the legal profession. Some of the authors of this volume have made influential contributions and are directly involved, both legally and politically, in the debate. There has, however, been no sustained study of the conflict across a variety of different jurisdictions. This book addresses the copyright/free speech relationship within a comparative and international legal framework. Moreover, the key questions regarding access to information and the digital challenges are addressed from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

Readership: Practitioners and academics in the field of copyright and free speech worldwide, both on a comparative and international level. It is also of interest to those working in the legal and socio-economic areas of intellectual property, digital rights, information law, human rights and competition.

Lord Justice Jacob: Preface
1: Jonathan Griffiths and Uma Suthersanen: Introduction
Part A: Mapping the Conflict
2: Eric Barendt: Copyright and free speech theory
3: Fiona Macmillan: Commodification and cultural ownership
4: Wendy Gordon: Copyright norms and the problem of private censorship
5: Uma Suthersanen: Towards an international public interest rule? Human rights and international copyright law
Part B: National Perspectives
6: Neil Netanel: Copyright and the First Amendment
7: Gerald Dworkin: Copyright, the public interest and freedom of speech
8: Kevin Garnett QC: The impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on United Kingdom copyright law
9: Jonathan Griffiths: Not such a 'timid thing' - the UK's integrity right and freedom of expression
10: Ysolde Gendreau: Canadian copyright law and its Charters
11: Robert Burrell and James Stellios: Copyright and freedom of political communication in Australia
12: Alain Strowel and François Tulken: Freedom of expression and copyright under the civil law
13: Mira Sundara Rajan: Copyright and free speech in transition: the Russian experience
Part C: The Digital World
14: Raymond T. Nimmer: First Amendment speech and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act: a proper marriage
15: Thomas Dreier: Contracting out of copyright in the Information Society - the impact on freedom of expression
16: Jeremy Phillips: Databases, the Human Rights Act and EU law

Edited by Jonathan Griffiths, Senior Lecturer in Law at Queen Mary, University of London, and Uma Suthersanen, Reader in Intellectual Property Law & Policy at Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute, University of London

Contributors:

Professor Eric Barendt, University College London

Mr Robert Burrell, Australian National University

Professor Thomas Dreier, Karlsruhe University, Germany

Professor Gerald Dworkin, King's College London

Mr Kevin Garnett QC, Hogarth Chambers, London

Professor Ysolde Gendreau, Université de Montréal, Canada

Professor Wendy Gordon, Boston University, US

Mr Jonathan Griffiths, Queen Mary, University of London

Professor Fiona Macmillan, Birkbeck College, London

Professor Neil Netanel, University of Texas School of Law, US

Professor Raymond T. Nimmer, University of Houston, US

Professor Jeremy Phillips, Universities of Alicante/Bournemouth/University College London/ Queen Mary

Mr James Stellios, Australian National University

Professor Alain Strowel, Attorney, Covington & Burling, Brussels

Dr Mira Sundara Rajan, The University of British Columbia

Dr Uma Suthersanen, Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute, University of London

Professor François Tulken, Saint-Louis University, Brussels, and Attorney at Law

"a substantial collection of papers by authors of distinction on a fascinating subject. The scholarship distilled is impressive...has been skilfully edited and well indexed to make it of great value to researchers. It is a book which can be read with interest in its entirety and would be a useful addition to any law library." - Robyn Durie, Convergence