|
IPCENTRAL REVIEW Debuts With Epstein Copyright Article
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A new e-journal focusing on intellectual property issues of interest to both public policy specialists and the general reader, IPCENTRAL REVIEW, has made its debut with an article by University of Chicago Professor Richard A. Epstein, "Liberty Versus Property? Cracks in the Foundations of Copyright Law."
A product of The Progress & Freedom Foundation's Center for the Study of Digital Property, IPCENTRAL REVIEW addresses concrete policy problems in a thoughtful and thorough manner, without being, in the words of Center Director James V. DeLong, "overly abstract or pedantic". A featured article will run each month, often with critiques - "in cyberspace, not in deadtree format".
In the first volume, Professor Epstein offers justifications for intellectual property, particularly copyright, under natural law and utilitarian theory. He focuses on "the tension between liberty and property in the natural law tradition of Locke" and examines how that tension "plays out in connection with copyright, and by implication, other forms of intellectual property." Epstein writes that "the peculiar nature of the rights in question justify rules that allow for limited duration and fair use, and perhaps some other restrictions." He says his "private campaign has been to insist that the strength of the natural law theories rested on their implicit utilitarian (broadly conceived) foundations, which require some empirical evaluation of why given institutions promote human flourishing and through it general social welfare."
"There is no magic solution for liberty or property that creates benefits without dislocations," Epstein concludes. "But once we recognize that trade-offs are an inescapable feature of social activity, we could conclude that a sensible system of copyright is not such a bad trade-off after all." Also included in the REVIEW are comments on the Epstein piece by Adam Mossoff and Solveig Singleton.
The next installment of IPCENTRAL REVIEW will feature an article by Stanley J. Liebowitz, "Alternative Copy Systems: The Problems With An Alternative License," and commentaries by Katherine Lawrence and Michael Abramowicz.
The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational organization.
|
