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Copyright and the pursuit of justice: a Rawlsian analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Deming Liu
Deming Liu*
Affiliation:
Newcastle Law School, UK
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Abstract

This paper seeks to explore copyright from the perspective of John Rawls's egalitarian conception of justice. It first evaluates the classical theories for copyright. Next, it examines Rawls's principles of justice with particular emphasis on the difference principle. Then, it applies Rawls to the design of copyright law and debates on two doctrines of copyright law – namely the idea/expression dichotomy and the relevance of the merit of a work for copyright. The significance of the debate is to show that Rawls's perspective on justice offers a better justification for copyright and its principles and would potentially induce better justice.

Type
Research Article
Information
Legal Studies , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 600 - 622
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Legal Scholars 2012

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98. I acknowledge my thanks to one reviewer for this point.

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109. William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769) book II, ch 1, p 2.

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132. Drahos, above n 25, p 50.

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138. Conventions or social rules would require others to acknowledge the source of the ideas. This recognition demonstrates a social value in a democratic society as Rawls said in A Theory of Justice that: ‘Human beings enjoy the exercise of their realized capacities (their innate or trained abilities) and this enjoyment increases the more the capacity is realized or the greater the complexity.…The companion effect to the Aristotelian principle is that the esteem and admiration of others is desired, the activities favoured by the Aristotelian principle are good for other persons as well’ (pp 375–376, as cited in Audard, above n 69, p 108).

139. Rawls, above n 53, p 100.

140. Ibid, pp 101–102.

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148. Per Peterson J, University of London Press, Limited v University Tutorial Press [1916] 2 Ch 601 at 608.

149. Hollinrake v Truswell [1894] 3 Ch 420 at 427–428.

150. Per Oliver LJ, Exxon Corporation v Exxon Insurance Consultants International Ltd [1982] Ch 119 at 144.

151. CDPA 1988, s 4(a).

152. Per Laddie J, Metix (UK) Ltd v G H Maughan (Plastics) Ltd [1997] FSR 718 at 722.

153. Laddie et al, above n 146, p 193.

154. CDPA 1988, s 4(c).

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156. CDPA 1988, s 4(1)(c). Note that s 4(1)(a) specifies ‘irrespective of artistic quality’, but as with s 4(1)(c), s 4(1)(b) makes no such specification. However, it is believed that s 4(1)(b), a work of architecture being a building, has no requirement for artistic quality because s 4(2) defines ‘building’ as including ‘any fixed structure’, hence ‘structures devoid of artistic quality’ (Laddie et al, above n 146, p 192). So that only leaves a work of artistic craftsmanship without the qualification ‘irrespective of artistic quality’ in the category of artistic work under the CDPA 1988.

157. George Hensher Ltd v Restawhile Upholstery (Lancs) Ltd [1976] AC 64 at 94.

158. Ibid, at 78.

159. Ibid, at 97.

160. Ibid, at 95.

161. Ibid, at 97.

162. Laddie et al, above n 146, p 198.

163. Ibid, p 78.

164. Torremans, above n 155, p 201.

165. Laddie et al, above n 146, p 196.

166. Ibid, p 197.

167. Daniels, above n 74, at 269.

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169. Rawls, above n 53, p 201.

170. Ibid, p 302.

171. Daniels, above n 74, at 241.

172. Parijs, above n 77, at 215.

173. Ibid, at 215.

174. Sawkins v Hyperion [2005] 1 WLR 3281 at 3288.

175. Bleistein v Donaldson Lithographing Co (1903) 188 US 239 at 251.