Comparative Copyright and Knowledge Protection

Catalog description

Copyright and mechanisms of protection and use of knowledge touch countless creative endeavors and global economic and cultural activities. Domestic copyright law as expressed in the U.S. Code and case law answers some questions and gives rise to others. Students in this seminar will critically compare and evaluate legal approaches to elements of copyright law of selected foreign jurisdictions, from practical and normative perspectives. Through interrogation of scholarly readings and cases, class discussion, and their own research and analysis, students will examine comparative approaches to issues such as subsistence of copyright; the nature of authorship; originality and fixation requirements; the spectrum of conceptions of fair use and fair dealing; moral rights.