1. Law & Society Annual Meeting 2010
Authentic Authorship
Law & Society Annual Meeting 2010
Alina Ng
May 28, 2010

3. Progress of Science and the Useful Arts utilitarian
rights are granted to fulfill a given end

4. §106 Copyright Act Reproduce Prepare derivative works
Distribute by sale, transfer of ownership, rental, lease or lending
Publicly perform
Publicly display
Perform publicly by means of digital audio transmission

5. copyright owner

6. author

7. subject matter of protection is disconnected from
the person who owns rights over it

8. why is this a problem?

9. 2 reasons:
the owner of the copyright may restrict use of the work for purely economic or profit-driven reasons that does not conserve a work’s integrity and conserve informational resources; and ,
society may disregard rules and norms that dictate civil behavior in the use of literary and artistic works and use works in ways that do not advance the sciences and arts.

10. privileges to use literary and artistic works …
…can serve private and not public interest

11. 2 types of scholarship have contributed to the disconnect between
the subject matter of protection and the owner of copyright
Law & Economics
American Legal Realism
normative standard
allocative efficiency
consequentialist
not deontological
realist in orientation
indeterminate
lack normativity

12. copyright laws do not provide normative guidance on conduct

13. my claim is this…
…there is a need to recognize rights & duties
outside statutory copyright

14. because of the lack of normative content to guide
conduct towards progress in science and arts…
…copyrighted works may be produced & used in ways
that do not advance progress

15. where do we look for these rights & duties?

16. institution of property rights

17. authentic authorship as a normative standard

18. institutional protection for the author’s creative
personality and individual autonomy…
…allows greater freedom and unfettered engagement
in producing works of authorship

19. the existence of diverse forms of creative works will not
necessarily promote progress of science and arts…
…producing and using works of authorship with the
intent of contributing towards progress will

20. authentic authorship is not an implicit call for moral rights

21. Thank You