Re: New Work Types Problem (Was: Dead Sea Scrolls, Sweat of Brow Once Again)

From: Bernard Katz <bkatz[_at_]uoguelph.ca>
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 19:38:10 -0500 ()

On Fri, 27 Feb 1998, Mark Lemley <mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu> wrote:
>
> I acknowledge this difference, but I have to say I see it as a feature
> of the US/UK system, not a bug. The US/UK approach views copyright as a
> limited right granted in certain situations to increase the incentive to
> produce new works. By contrast, the French approach stems from some
> sort of natural law vision of all creativity as inherently protected.
>
> I don't know anything about French law, and so I don't know whether they
> mean it when they say "all works of the mind" are copyrighted. But I'm
> glad there are a few things in life in the US that *aren't* copyrighted.
> Does the world really need copyright protection for cake recipes
> (discussed on this list), figure skating routines (as a recent article
> argues), football plays and basketball dribbling styles, casual
> conversation and jokes told orally, etc., etc.?

I very much agree with Mark Lemley's comments. In Canada, there has been increasing pressure over the past several years to move further away from the traditional Anglo-American philosophy and towards the Euro-French one. This is reflected in several changes that have taken place in the Canadian legislation since 1987, and it is not something that I welcome. Cheers,

Bernard Katz, Head, Specail Collections and Library Development

	      McLaughlin Library, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario
	  and Chair, Ontario Library Association Copyright Task Force

<bkatz[_at_]uoguelph.ca> Received on Thu Mar 05 1998 - 00:38:07 GMT