Reconstructing copyright to promote creativity in internet era

Abstract

The original purpose of copyright system was to promote creativity, at least it was claimed to be so in the Statute of Anne and the US Constitution. However, this claim has become a laughing stock in the age of Internet. Instead of being a promoter of creativity, copyright has now been widely perceived as an impediment of creativity because of its ever-expanding protection in width, length and strength. Many studies have been devoted to “fix” the copyright problems, which include reconceptualization of copyright law (Jessica Litman and Pamela Samuelson), shortening protection term (Neil Netanel), reclaiming fair use (Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi), perfecting licensing scheme (William Fisher, David Lange, etc.), and employing Creative Commons and open source project ...