The 1991 US Supreme Court decision in Feist Publications Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. held that factual matter is not subject to copyright protection because it is not original to the author, thus dramatically rejecting a two-century-old tradition of protecting factual compilations under copyright. The contributors to this book reassess this decision and its implications, particularly for the protection of electronic databases. The debate over fact-based works has grown still more complicated since Feist with the enactment of worldwide initiatives that extend the protection of databases, such as the European Union's Database Directive. A number of legal scholars have voiced their opinions on how Congress should react to the Court's decision and the Database Directive, but none have put forth a viable solution or questioned the debate's underlying assumptions. The contributors to this insightful book turn their attention to these overlooked aspects, approaching the protection of factual matter from a range of perspectives: policy, historical, comparative, empirical and philosophical.
The range of viewpoints and disciplines represented in this compelling book will be of great interest to students, scholars and lawyers working in the area of intellectual property law.
Contents: Preface PART I: COPYRIGHT AND FACTS: HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES1. Feist, Facts and Functions: Historical PerspectiveMiriam Bitton2. The Debate Over Copyright in News and its Effect on Originality DoctrineRobert F. Brauneis3. Of Silos and Constellations: Comparing Notions of Originality in Copyright LawElizabeth F. Judge and Daniel J. Gervais PART II: THE FACT: A CONTESTED CONCEPT4. Two Fallacies about Copyrighting Factual CompilationsMichael Steven Green5. Speaking of the World: Fact, Opinion and the Originality Standard of CopyrightAlan L. Durham6. Created Facts and their Awkward Place in Copyright LawJustin Hughes7. Copyright and Convergence: A Pragmatic PerspectiveDavid McGowan PART III: ALTERNATIVES TO COPYRIGHT: TRADE SECRET, TORT, AND SUI GENERIS PROTECTION OF FACTS8. The Challenge of Protecting Trade Secret Information in a Digital WorldElizabeth A. Rowe9. The Third Party Problem: Assessing the Protection of Information Through Tort LawSharon K. Sandeen10. The Componentization of InformationKristen OsengaIndex
Edited by Robert F. Brauneis, Associate Professor of Law, Co-Director, Intellectual Property Law Program and Co-Director, Dean Dinwoodey Center for Intellectual Property Studies, The George Washington University Law School, US
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