Copyright and Piracy ─ An Interdisciplinary Critique

An understanding of the changing nature of the law and practice of copyright infringement is a task too big for lawyers alone; it requires additional inputs from economists, historians, technologists, sociologists, cultural theorists and criminologists. Where is the boundary to be drawn between illegal imitation and legal inspiration? Would the answer be different for creators, artists and experts from different disciplines or fields? How have concepts of copyright infringement altered over time and how do such changes relate, if at all, to the cultural norms operating amongst creators in different fields? With such an approach, one might perhaps begin to address the vital and overarching question of whether strong copyright laws, rigorously enforced, impede rather than promote creativity. And what can be done to avoid any such adverse consequences, while maintaining the effectiveness of copyright as an incentive-mechanism for those who need it?

Lionel Bently is Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property and information Law, and Professorial Fellow at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge.
Jennifer Davis is Herchel Smith College Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law and a member of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, University of Cambridge. She is also a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge.
Jane C. Ginsburg is Morton L. Janklow Professor of Literary and Artistic Property Law, and Director of the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts, at the Columbia University School of Law. She is also an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge.