Comparative Copyright

This half-option offers a comparative perspective on the law of copyright, with a particular focus on common law and EU/civil law jurisdictions. In it, we consider copyright as an example of the wider shift in legal mindset brought about by developments in technology, globalisation, Europeanisation, and constitutionalisation. We study some of the technical differences among copyright systems and their philosophical and historical bases, and the shift towards a more comparative approach among copyright scholars and lawmakers. 

The course is arranged around certain “hard cases” involving core issues of copyright: Who is entitled to copyright (conceptions of authorship, rights of ownership), and what types of subject matter does copyright protect (conceptions of [authorial] works, and requirements of originality)? What economic and moral rights does copyright confer, and how do they interact with other rights, e.g., of freedom of expression, personal property, contract, and design protection? What actions do moral and economic rights of authors and copyright owners restrict in the digital/online and physical worlds? The course should appeal to people interested in IP, the Internet and generative AI, fundamental rights, property law and theory, comparative law, harmonisation, and EU law.

Assessment is by way of examination at the end of the course.