COPYRIGHT LAW: TRANSNATIONAL & COMPARATIVE ASPECTS (1) (CIP 350)

Professor Guy Pessach

Copyright law provides a paradigmatic example of the robust diversity of legal approaches to the regulation and protection of intangible goods. Copyright, a matter of domestic law, is also increasingly governed by international law making, which alters the contours of domestic copyright fields. This course will provide a comprehensive and multidimensional analysis of the intersections between the global
copyright order and different national copyright regimes. The course begins with a critical examination of different theoretical justifications for copyright law, and will trace the origins of each theory within different cultural traditions and jurisdictions.

The second part of the course draws on this background to provide a comparative analysis of central doctrines and principles in copyright law, including originality thresholds for copyright protection; exemptions from and limitations of copyright protection; authors’ moral rights; third-party liability for copyright infringements; and constitutional dimensions of copyright law. The final part of the course moves to the global regime of copyright law and the manner in which international intersects with national copyright law. Our discussion in this context will focus on the impact of a global (western) copyright regime on different local traditions of cultural production.

Topics to be discussed include traditional knowledge, the copyright-free speech interface, database protection, broadcasters’ rights, the protection of audio-visual performances, collective administration of copyright and the development agenda of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).