The Patchwork Global Commons: Harmonizing the World’s Public Domains

Robert Spoo, author of Without
Copyrights: Piracy, Publishing, and the Public Domain to be published by
Oxford University Press this month, will discuss what he calls “the tragedy of
the uncoordinated global commons”—the fact that at any given time works by
creators are in the public domain in some countries and still protected in
others.  This lack of worldwide
coordination has led to disparate copyright recapture laws, which disrupts the
settled expectations of libraries and archives around world, and has the
potential for further fragmenting the global commons, making the prospect of
lawful worldwide distribution of older works even more remote.  As copyright practitioners discuss revisions
to the Copyright Act, Dr. Spoo will advance the argument that legislators in
the U.S., the EU, and other parts of the world have too long focused on
enhancing and harmonizing copyright protections and have paid too little
attention to the importance of harmonizing the world’s public domains.  Dr. Spoo will highlight several recent and
historical examples of the importance of a healthy public domain, including a
discussion of the works of James Joyce and recent developments in the
publication of his unpublished works.
 

Robert Spoo is Professor and Chapman
Distinguished Chair, and Associate Dean for Faculty Development, at The
University of Tulsa College of Law, where he teaches Copyright Law, Contracts,
and Law and Literature, and other subjects. 
He received his J.D. from the Yale Law School and his M.A. and Ph.D.
from Princeton University.  After clerking
for the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor, then on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit, he practiced law in New York, Tulsa, and San Francisco.  Formerly the editor of the James Joyce
Quarterly and a member of the English Department at the University of Tulsa, he
has published numerous books, editions, and articles on modern authors and the
intersection of copyright law and literature. 
His latest book is Without
Copyrights: Piracy, Publishing, and the Public Domain, to be published by Oxford
University Press this month.
 

Time:   5:30 p.m to 7:00 p.m. (Cocktails and light
refreshment will be served) (program will begin
promptly at 6:00 p.m.)
Cost:    $10 (students) $15.00 (members) $25.00
(non-members)

CLE:     1 hour of CLE credit will be provided for
this program
 
 

To attend this event, please complete
the REGISTRATION FORM, and mail or fax it to:
 

Susan Issel, Legal Assistant to Chad
A. Rutkowski

Woodcock
Washburn LLP

Cira
Centre, 12th Floor, 2929 Arch Street

Philadelphia PA 19104-2891

P: 215.564.8937
| F: 215.568.3439 | E: sissel@woodcock.com