Originality and Creativity in Copyright Law

Originality Requirements under U.S. and E.U. Copyright Law

Understanding how copyright law applies to software is essential to making informed decisions about how to develop and distribute code. The first step of this analysis is to consider whether the code in question is in fact copyrightable. This document discusses the requirements for software to be considered within the scope of copyright under U.S. law. Because open source and free software deve...

The Originality Standard for Literary Works under U.S. Copyright Law

Symposium Creativity and the Law Introduction: Creativity and the Law

Creativity is on the American mind. President Obama routinely suggests that creativity and ingenuity are the keys to America’s economic future.1 Bill Gates emphasizes the power of creativity to solve the world’s most pressing, and most difficult, problems.2 But the creativity story is, of late, usually bleakly told: indeed, a recent Newsweek cover story proclaimed a “Creativity Crisis.”3 Last N...

Copyright and Creativity: Authors and Photographers

The history of the occupations “author” and “photographer” provides an insightful perspective on copyright and creativity. The concept of the romantic author, associated with personal creative genius, gained prominence in the eighteenth century. However, in the U.S. in 1900 only about three thousand persons professed their occupation to be “author.” Self-professed “photographers” were then abou...

Does Copyright Law Promote Creativity? An Empirical Analysis of Copyright’s Bounty