Here are a few academic articles I've come across recently that make interesting reading ...
First up, an article looking at moral rights and the First Amendment:
Cross, John T., "Reconciling the Moral Rights of Authors with the First Amendment Right of Free Speech" Akron Intellectual Property Journal, Forthcoming Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=958964
Abstract: During recent years, there has been a debate over the constitutionality of a moral rights regime in the United States. Although this debate has focused on Congress's powers, another issue lies largely unaddressed: the question of whether moral rights law might violate the First Amendment. Recent Supreme Court rulings sustaining copyright against a free speech challenge do not necessarily apply to the question of moral rights.
This article explores the issue, and concludes that most of the moral rights currently in force satisfy the limits of the First Amendment. The discussion considers both the federal moral rights set out in VARA and other statutes and state moral rights laws. Unlike the few others who have addressed the subject - most of whom seem to assume that a single analysis applies to all moral rights - the article explores several First Amendment doctrines, including commercial speech, defamatory speech, and content-neutral speech.
Next, a look at how to best disseminate works on the internet:
Montagnani, Maria Lillà and Borghi, Maurizio, "Positive Copyright and Open Content Licences: How to Make a Marriage Work by Empowering Authors to Disseminate Their Creations" . International Journal of Communications Law and Policy (IJCLP), Forthcoming Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1020997
Abstract: Positive copyright appears to have been progressively turned away from its normative function of ensuring a fair and efficient transmission of human knowledge. The private sector is seeking to counterbalance this phenomenon by adopting legal tools that expand the public domain of knowledge, such as web-based licences modelled on the open access approach. The increasing world-wide preference for Creative Commons licences confirms their aptness to transform copyright law into a tool flexible enough to serve authors' several purposes. Such a spontaneous counterbalance experiences many difficulties though, because of the structure that positive copyright has adopted over the last few years.
The current situation is an excellent point from which to look back at how authors used to disseminate their works before the advent of the Internet. From a historical view-point copyright has always accomplished the twin functions of economically rewarding authors and enabling communication of their creations to the public. The latter goal is achieved by means of statutory mechanisms limiting the freedom of contract between authors and their counterparts (intermediaries in a broad sense), in order to enforce the authors' capacity to publicise their works. In the current digital environment, however, these mechanisms are not likely to accomplish their original functions.
This paper seeks to explore an adjustment that will permit authors to take advantage of all the new means of commercial exploitation and non-commercial dissemination of their works offered by the Internet. Such an adjustment aims also at realigning positive and normative copyright by encompassing the use of open content licensing within the current copyright framework.
Finally, on a different theme, Anne Twomey looks at reforming Australia's federal system:
Twomey, Anne, "The Reform of Australia's Federal System" . Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 07/80 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1033180
Abstract: For both economic and social reasons, the reform of the Australian federal system is high on the political agenda. The States have called for a constitutional convention to obtain agreement on the necessary reforms. These are likely to include a reconsideration of the allocation of powers between the Commonwealth and the States, the reform of federal financial relations and the establishment and strengthening of mechanisms for intergovernmental cooperation.
Drawing on experience from other federations, this article considers the types of reforms that might be discussed by a constitutional convention, including the restoration of the cross-vesting system and the ability of one government to confer or impose executive powers and functions on the officers of another level of government. It also considers broader federalism issues such as Senate reform and the composition and operation of the High Court of Australia.
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