Introduction:
… In the traditional common law this use of equity came to be known as the process of ‘equitable interpretation’ or as determining the ‘equity of the statute’. Used in this conception, it authorized courts to extend or restrict the otherwise clear words of a statute to give effect to the statute’s ‘ratio or purpose’. In this Article, we argue that equity, understood in this sense, is deeply influential in the construction and operationalization of copyright doctrine. While copyright law is obviously statutory in origin, the influence of equity on its working is best seen in relation to the role that the federal courts – primarily the US Supreme Court – have had on its shape and direction. In a variety of doctrinal areas, the Supreme Court’s copyright jurisprudence reveals a distinct pattern of curbing behavior that, while in strict compliance with the letter of the law, is inconsistent with the values and purposes of the copyright system. The Supreme Court’s efforts to align the text of the statute’s directives with its perceived goals thus partakes of what the common law characterized as the process of giving effect to the equity of the statute … (more)
Shyamkrishna Balganesh and Gideon Parchomovsky, ‘Equity’s Unstated Domain: The Role Of Equity In Shaping Copyright Law’. 163 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1859 (2015).
First posted 2015-09-17 15:04:16
Leave a Reply