Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Paul Jones <pjones AT metalab.unc.edu>]

Professor Jessica Litman of Michigan Law School

"Copyright Liberties"

Date: 3/30/07
Time: 12:05 p.m.
Location: Duke Law School, Room 3041
Lunch will be served

In this talk, Professor Litman challenges the conventional paradigm of 
copyright statutory interpretation, under which unlicensed uses of copyrighted 
works are deemed infringing unless excused. That rubric was never accurate, she 
argues, and relying on it has distorted our thinking. In particular, it has 
encouraged us to give short shrift to the core importance in the copyright 
scheme of reading, listening, viewing, watching, playing and using copyrighted 
works. For most of its history, copyright law was designed to maximize the 
opportunities for non-exploitative enjoyment of copyrighted works in order to 
encourage reading, listening, watching and their cousins. Litman terms the 
freedom to engage in those activities "copyright liberties", and argues that 
they are both deeply embedded in copyright's design and crucial to its 
promotion of the Progress of Science.

Litman is a Professor at the University of Michigan Law School, where she 
teaches copyright law, Internet law, and trademarks and unfair competition. She 
is the author of the influential book Digital Copyright as well as numerous 
articles, and the coauthor with Jane Ginsburg and Mary Lou Kevlin of a casebook 
on Trademarks and Unfair Competition Law.

This lecture is open to all. Boxed lunches will be available on a first-come, 
first-served basis.