A Comparison of International and Domestic Copyright Regimes

Graeme W. Austin, University of Arizona College of Law, has published “International Copyright Law & Domestic Constitutional Doctrines” in the Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts for 2007. Here is the abstract.

This paper examines emerging constitutional doctrines that emphasize the relevance of international copyright relations to the constitutionality of domestic copyright law. One line of judicial reasoning suggests that legislation that protects the interests of foreign authors is consistent with copyright’s quid pro quo bargain. Another suggests that rational basis scrutiny can be satisfied by a sufficient showing that the challenged legislation advances the bargaining position of the United States in negotiations over the content of foreign copyright laws. To put these developments in context, this paper briefly summarizes the doctrine that has been distilled by recent challenges to the constitutionality of various aspects of U.S. copyright law. It then explores the contours of this new “internationalized” approach to constitutional analysis of copyright law in the domestic context.

Download the entire article from SSRN here.