Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2014
Journal Title
Florida State University Law Review
ISSN
0096-3070
Abstract
Over the last twenty years, arguments for broader copyright have taken an increasingly mercantilist turn. Unable to establish that broader copyright will lead to more or better original works, as the Constitution and the traditional economic framework require, proponents have begun arguing for broader copyright on the basis of revenue and jobs. Rampant unauthorized copying is theft or piracy, proponents insist, depriving copyright owners of revenue and destroying jobs. Whether or not it leads to more or better works, broader copyright will increase revenue to copyright owners and thus increase employment in the copyright industries. This increased employment, on its own, justifies broader copyright, or so proponents contend. In this Article, I critically reexamine this argument and show that it is empty.
First Page
95
Last Page
150
Num Pages
56
Volume Number
42
Issue Number
1
Publisher
Florida State University College of Law
Recommended Citation
Glynn S. Lunney Jr,
Copyright’s Mercantilist Turn,
42
Fla. St. U. L. Rev.
95
(2014).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/898