Re: copyright and natural law?

On 17 Sep 1998, Mark Lemley <mlemley[_at_]mail.law.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>
> Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
> >
> > I appreciate the scholarly contributions on this by you and
> > others reviewing the history of authors' rights. Despite the
> > twisting of the English language in the cases cited, it is
> > apparent in every review that the laws recognized authors'
> > exclusive rights over his/her work prior to publication.
> >
> ************
>
> But it seems to me that's a somewhat different question than the one
> we have been debating. The section of the constitution at issue
> enumerates the powers of Congress to enact statutes; it does not itself
> create rights in the absence of those statutes. You may not like the
> language of the statutes Congress creates, but it presumably has the
> power to define copyright as it chooses, subject only to whatever
> limitations other constitutional provisions might impose.

Yes, authors' and inventors' exclusive rights are not created by the Constitution. It only gives Congress the power to secure them. Reasonably I feel they must be created some other way.

Albert Henderson, Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY <70244.1532[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Tue Sep 22 1998 - 04:25:30 GMT