Information Ecology Lecture Series
"Copyright Liberties" with University of Michigan Professor Jessica Litman
March 30, 2007, 12:10 p.m.
Room 3041
The Center for the Study of the Public Domain continues “The Information Ecology” lecture series on March 30 with “Copyright Liberties,” a talk by Professor Jessica Litman of the University of Michigan Law School. This event will begin in room 3041 at Duke Law School at 12:15 p.m.
Professor Litman challenges the conventional paradigm of copyright statutory interpretation, under which unlicensed uses of copyrighted works are deemed infringing unless excused. That rubric was never accurate, she argues, and relying on it has distorted our thinking. In particular, it has encouraged us to give short shrift to the core importance in the copyright scheme of reading, listening, viewing, watching, playing and using copyrighted works. For most of its history, copyright law was designed to maximize the opportunities for non-exploitative enjoyment of copyrighted works in order to encourage reading, listening, watching, and their cousins. Litman terms the freedom to engage in those activities "copyright liberties,” and argues that they are both deeply embedded in copyright's design and crucial to its promotion of the “Progress of Science.”
At the University of Michigan Law School Litman teaches copyright law, Internet law, and trademarks and unfair competition. She is the author of the influential book Digital Copyright, and the coauthor, with Jane Ginsburg and Mary Lou Kevlin, of a casebook entitled Trademarks and Unfair Competition Law.
This lecture is open to the public. A light lunch will be served on a first-come, first-served basis.
A live webcast of “Copyright Liberties” will be available at http://www.law.duke.edu/webcast/ beginning at 12:10 p.m..
"Copyright Liberties" with University of Michigan Professor Jessica Litman
March 30, 2007, 12:10 p.m.
Room 3041
The Center for the Study of the Public Domain continues “The Information Ecology” lecture series on March 30 with “Copyright Liberties,” a talk by Professor Jessica Litman of the University of Michigan Law School. This event will begin in room 3041 at Duke Law School at 12:15 p.m.
Professor Litman challenges the conventional paradigm of copyright statutory interpretation, under which unlicensed uses of copyrighted works are deemed infringing unless excused. That rubric was never accurate, she argues, and relying on it has distorted our thinking. In particular, it has encouraged us to give short shrift to the core importance in the copyright scheme of reading, listening, viewing, watching, playing and using copyrighted works. For most of its history, copyright law was designed to maximize the opportunities for non-exploitative enjoyment of copyrighted works in order to encourage reading, listening, watching, and their cousins. Litman terms the freedom to engage in those activities "copyright liberties,” and argues that they are both deeply embedded in copyright's design and crucial to its promotion of the “Progress of Science.”
At the University of Michigan Law School Litman teaches copyright law, Internet law, and trademarks and unfair competition. She is the author of the influential book Digital Copyright, and the coauthor, with Jane Ginsburg and Mary Lou Kevlin, of a casebook entitled Trademarks and Unfair Competition Law.
This lecture is open to the public. A light lunch will be served on a first-come, first-served basis.
A live webcast of “Copyright Liberties” will be available at http://www.law.duke.edu/webcast/ beginning at 12:10 p.m..