Browse Issues Search Articles Submissions About the Journal Copyright Fixation Podcast Subscribe Go back to Issues COPYRIGHT'S ADMINISTRATIVE LAW Citation: 68 J. COPYRIGHT SOC’Y, 417, (2021) Dave Fagundes University of Houston Law Center Saurabh Vishnubhakat Texas A&M University Introduction While a robust body of scholarship considers the regulatory dimensions of patent and copyright, there remains a puzzling absence of writing about copyright’s administrative law. This Article remedies this lacuna in the literature. It begins by tracing the history of regulatory copyright, which dates to the first Copyright Act in 1790. This analysis shows that — despite the absence of scholarly attention to the topic — there is a longstanding connection between copyright and administrative law. The Article then considers the stakes of relying on agency governance in the absence of a theory of copyright’s administrative law, which risks overdelegation, underdelegation, and institutional design flaws. It uses these failings to sketch out principles for identifying what copyright duties should (and should not) be committed to agencies. The Article then uses these principles to take a two-fold normative turn. First, it suggests several operational reforms to the work of copyright agencies that would take best advantage of its core competencies. Second, it analyses the doctrinal administrative law issues that would be raised by such reform. In so doing, this Article seeks to sketch out the heretofore unexplored territory of copyright’s administrative law so that scholars and policymakers may better navigate it. Full Article cpy_68-3 Copyright's Administrative LawDownload Related Content Event Jan 7 Copyright and Immersive Experiences: Navigating Registration Challenges at the U.S. Copyright Office Immersive media experiences blend technology, interactivity, and creative expression in ways that challenge traditional copyright registration practice. This panel will… Live CLE Credit Foundational Copyright Ideas Video Oct 29, 2025 Software Copyright Registration Challenges: Making the Best of a Difficult Situation The panel will discuss the difficulties in obtaining enforceable copyright registrations for computer source code, including version identification, identification and… Foundational Copyright Ideas Journal September 28, 2025 PROTECTING PROGRESS: COPYRIGHT'S COMMON LAW AND LIBRARIES 72 J. Copyright Society 761Download Foundational Copyright Ideas