The Tales that Article 2B Tells

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1998

Abstract

Proposed article 2B's description of its own relationship with copyright law is at best confused, and at worst disingenuous. The Preface to Article 28 insists that its purpose is not to create new rights in information or informational works, but only to facilitate transactions in rights deriving from some other source of law. The statutory language, however, contemplates the assertion of rights beyond those provided by any branch of intellectual property law. Ultimately, the Preface appears to contemplate that an enforceable license may be based solely on the fact that the licensor "has control over the source of information that the licensee desires to utilize," without regard to intellectual property rights. Such a rule would be inconsistent with current law, and dubious as a matter of intellectual property and informational policy. It leaves the reader at sea as to which, if any, of the statements in the Preface she should consider reliable.

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