Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Canadian Journal of Law and Technology
Publication Date
2002
ISSN
1702-9228
Page Number
21
Keywords
copyright, collective management, neighboring rights
Disciplines
Intellectual Property Law | International Trade Law | Law
Abstract
It is a generally held view that copyright in civil law countries is a child of the French Revolution and should be considered an inalienable right of the author, a human right in other words. In fact, it is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. Granted, in several cases the economic component of the right is transferred to, e.g., a publisher or a producer, but it remains, at source, a right of the author, the creator of the protected work (or object of a related right). By contrast, one often hears that, in common law jurisdictions, copyright is essentially a publisher's monopoly that was extended over the years to also cover authors.Historically, there is some basis for these assertions, as indeed copyright law in the U.K. originated as publishing monopolies accorded to the Stationers' Company, while in France, clearly the human right (author-centered) approach has dominated since the late-18th century.
Recommended Citation
Daniel J. Gervais,
Collective Management of Copyright and Neighboring Rights in Canada: An International Perspective, 1 Canadian Journal of Law and Technology. 21
(2002)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/852