Consumer Rights in Copyrighted Works
IP Osgoode has announced the winners of its 2010 IP Writing Challenge. Pascale Chapdelaine's winning entry in the Graduate Students category, "The nature and justification of the consumer’s ownership rights in the copy of a copyrighted work", should be of particular interest to entertainment lawyers. As can be gleaned from its title, the paper addresses the theoretical analysis underlying what kinds of rights consumers obtain when they purchase an entertainment product, such as a CD or digital file. We've talked earlier here at the Signal about Canadian law and what is, in the US context, referred to as the "first sale doctrine" (First Sale Doctrine and Canadian Law) and Chapdelaine's article provides some insight into similar areas.
UPDATE (December 1, 2010): Pascale has posted further thoughts on the matter at IPilogue: What is Mine is Not Yours and What is Yours is in Fact Mine: Copyright, Consumers and First Sale.
