Book Reviews: Research Handbooks on Copyright Law and History of Copyright Law

What's better than one Research Handbook on copyright law? Two Research Handbooks on copyright law! Here are two reviews from the Edward Elgar Research Handbooks in Intellectual Property series, under the general editorship and direction of founding Kat member: Jeremy Phillips.

1) Research Handbook on Copyright Law 

For a copyright enthusiast and academic such as this Kat, a handbook collating global perspectives on copyright research can be a treasure of insight and inspiration – and the Research Handbook on Copyright Law, edited by Paul Torremans (Professor of IP Law, University of Nottingham) did not disappoint!

This second edition is completely different from the first edition, reflecting the pace and diversity in which copyright research has developed. The text covers a mix of interesting topics from the more traditional areas such as copyright intentions or the concept of originality, to the cutting edge such as issues surrounding streaming, sampling, and search engines.  

The book boasts an impressive list of esteemed contributors from all around the world, and in no less than 23 chapters, provides a thorough and timely coverage of some of the most contentious issues in copyright regulation today.

The first chapters of the book focus on the more traditional discussions in copyright research; the inherent tensions of copyright, history and originality under EU law. 

The EU context continues with the following chapters considering the CJEU’s defining of exclusive rights, and the EU communication to the public, WIPO’s making available right, EU enforcement of communication to the public, the harmonisation of moral rights across Europe, collective rights management and copyright contracts.

Looking further afield and moving to more recent contentions, the subsequent chapters then consider sampling of sound recordings in US and Germany, online streaming services, the private copying exception, educational works in Spain, orphan works, online search engines, proposing a morality exception, and intangible cultural heritage.

Finally, the last four chapters consider Albanian copyright law and its compliance with EU legislation, copyright infringement in Vietnam,  transplanting copyright and copyright jurisdiction under EU private international law.

This book would certainly be of interest to those who practice, research and/or study in the area of copyright law, and a very informative read for anyone with a stake in the copyright debate. This Kat could not express her view of this book in better words than from Frank Gotzen, (Emeritus Professor, KU Leuven and President ALAI) found on the Edward Elgar web page:

All the pieces of the copyright puzzle found here
Image: Grace Hwu

“…The book feels like a springtime walk in the park of copyright, revealing blossoms of fresh insights and outbursts of new colourful touches everywhere.”

Details

ISBN: 978 1 78536 142 5

Publication Date: 2017

Extent: 624 pp

Hardback Price: £170.00, Currently available on the Edward Elgar Website for: £153.00.

2) Research Handbook on the History of Copyright Law

 

This Research Handbook focuses on the history of copyright law and is newly available in paperback at the generous price of just £32.00 from the Edward Elgar website. Be ye not mistaken by the thrifty price tag, this text is an earnest treasure!

The Research Handbook on the History of Copyright Law is edited by Isabella Isabella Alexander, University of Technology Sydney, Australia and H. Tomás Gómez-Arostegui, Lewis and Clark Law School, US, with contributions from 17 experts. In 19 chapters the Handbook delivers a detailed account of the development of copyright spanning from the 16^th century to the early 20^th century, in four parts:

Part 1 begins with a historiographical perspective on copyright history – looking at how copyright history is utilised as a rhetorical device in making arguments for its future.

“Copyright history allows us to gain a fuller understanding of how copyright works…it is just as important to be aware of how copyright history is used.” (Barbara Lauriat, chapter 1).

Kathy Bowrey critically reviews the seminal work on copyright history from Martha Woodmansee and Mark Rose. To complete part one, Martha Woodmansee demonstrates through two contemporary cases, how the Romantic ideology operates in practice. Woodmansee goes on to argue that despite the discrediting of the Romantic view of the author in literary and cultural theory; copyright needs the author in the Romantic sense to rebalance rights in the interest of artistic freedom.

Part 2 focuses on various perspectives of copyright history in the UK. Discussing developments before the enactment of the first copyright act known as the Statute of Anne in 1710, Ian Gladd traces back the story of the Stationers Company. Alastair Mann and Hector Macqueen both provide an account of Scottish copyright from before 1710, through the eighteenth and nineteenth century, respectively.

Nancy Mace then focuses on music copyright in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Britain and Elena Cooper turns her attention to the history of Artistic Copyright. The final two chapters in this part consider how copyright principles arose through the litigation process. Isabella Alexander looks particularly at the expansion of infringement in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, and H. Tomás Gómez-Arostegui examines the remedies available before 1800, of injunction and a disgorgement of the defendant’s profits.

Kats from the before times
Image: Tjflex2

Part 3 utilises an international perspective. Jane Ginsburg argues that early printing privileges in the sixteenth-century built up a sense of entitlement over time, which became increasingly grounded in the act of creation. Catherine Seville examines the impact of the UK copyright law on the colonies from 1710 to 1911. Sam Ricketson surveys the sources available in the public international law of copyright and suggests areas for further study. To conclude this part, Jose Bellido investigates how El Salvador played an intriguing role in the negotiation of Internationalisation of Copyright.

Part 4 considers national perspectives from US 1672–1909 by Oren Bracha; Australia Colonies by Catherine Bond; French Literary Property Developments in the Eighteenth (and Nineteenth) Centuries Frédéric Rideau and Literary Copyright in Mid-Nineteenth Century Spain by Jose Bellido.

The Research Handbook on the History of Copyright Law provides a detailed but digestible account of the history of copyright. It also lays foundations for future research, for example the need for more interdisciplinary reflection on the nature of authorship.

This Handbook will undoubtedly be a valuable resource to any academic, student or researcher investigating copyright. It would also appeal to anyone with an interest in the development of copyright doctrine in the UK, US, Australia, France, Spain and Italy in particular.

The book is beautifully dedicated to the memory of Catherine Seville (1963-2016) who authored the chapter on British colonial and imperial copyright.

Details

Extent: 496 pp

Paperback Price: £40.00 Web: £32.00, Publication Date: 2018, ISBN: 978 1 78811 855 2

Hardback Price: £180.00 Web: £162.00, Publication Date: 2016, ISBN: 978 1 78347 239 0

Available from the Edward Elgar website here