James Grimmelmann

Bio

James Grimmelmann, a former programmer, is an Associate Professor of Law at New York Law School.

Abstract

Ethical Visions of Copyright Law

Copyright law comes with a set of implicit ethics, which are used to validate a vision of respectful and market-oriented exchange between creator and consumer. Proponents of expansive copyright law and strong enforcement regularly deploy ethical rhetoric rooted in this vision. Perhaps more surprisingly, so do some of their critics. I'll use this ethical lens to explore some of the ways in which people envision an ethical or unethical copyright system of production and exchange, and to illustrate some interesting tensions in the arguments of copyright critics.