Copyright Law, Eleventh Edition

Published in its first edition in 1986 as a solely-authored work by Craig Joyce, Copyright Law constituted the first scholarly attempt to teach the Copyright Act of 1976 on its own terms and within its novel structure, combined with a serious treatment of copyright law in historical perspective, beginning with the printing press in 1476, the Stationers’ Company of London in 1557, the Statute of Anne in 1710, the Copyright Clause of the Constitution in 1787, the Bill of Rights in 1789, and subsequent enactments by Congress. Co-authors were added over time, including William Patry, Marshall Leaffer, Peter Jaszi, Marshall Leaffer and, currently, Tyler Ochoa, and Michael Carroll. The first chapter of the book, titled “The Landscape of Copyright,” lays out the importance of copyright, copyright in comparison with other species of intellectual property, the history of Anglo-American copyright law, copyright in a changing world, copyright and the digital challenge, and thinking and writing about copyright. The immediately succeeding chapters consider originality and fixation as prerequisites for copyright protection, works of authorship, ownership and transfers, duration and termination, and publication and formalities. The work then turns to exclusive rights and their limitations, infringement actions, secondary liability, fair use and affirmative defenses, and remedies and preemption. The final chapter, titled “The Horizon of Copyright,” takes a look backward and forward in time at copyright law yesterday, today, and tomorrow, using as its focal point a Rip Van Winkle of Copyright Law who fell asleep in 1710, only to awaken 300 years later in the midst of massive changes.