The Ethics of Copying
The Ethics of Copying
2015 - 2016
Copying has always been a widespread human practice. It is crucial in many ways for the cultural development of any society as well as for economic success, and it supports democratization processes by providing access to important cultural goods and information.
But it is often controversial, in which cases and to what degree it might or might not be legitimate to copy an artefact or certain aspects of somebody's physical appearance, or imitate patterns of someone's behaviour, and who should be entitled to raise normative claims that restrict other people's copying activities. Beliefs about the legitimacy and moral permissibility of various types of copying processes, individual acts of copying and ways of handling copies differ profoundly across different cultures, and they are subject to historical changes - due to technological developments as well as religious, political and economic factors.
In modern societies, the most important medium for normatively restricting copying processes is the law - not only copyright law, but also patent and trademark law and laws regulating unfair competition, among others. However, there seems to be a growing discrepancy between the existing legal situation and common morality. Major parts of the existing intellectual property law are not regarded as normatively appropriate by a growing number of people. This discrepancy tends to become even greater given the current shift from owning and copying physical things to merely having access to electronic data.
So far, there is no ethics of copying that could present a just balance of interests for those affected by copying practices. The overarching aim of this research group, a collaboration between legal scholars, philosophers and scholars from art history, art sciences, book studies, comparative literature, German literature, media studies, popular music and sociology, is to develop proposals concerning such a balance which might influence future legislation and facilitate the formation of inter-subjective moral standards for distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate forms of copying.
In order to develop the foundations of an ethics of copying, the group will work on questions like: What kinds of copies should be allowed to be produced by whom and for which purposes? Which forms of copying activities should be restricted from a moral point of view? And how can different interests with regard to property rights and copying permissions be weighed against each other?
Publications
- All Publications
Jan C. Joerden, Reinold Schmücker, Eberhard Ortland, Jahrbuch für Recht und Ethik / Annual Review of Law and Ethics. Bd. 26 (2018). Themenschwerpunkt: Recht und Ethik des Kopierens — Law and Ethics of Copying, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2018.
Thomas Dreier, Ethik des Zitierens und das Urheberrechts-Wissensgesellschafts-Gesetz, in: v. Lewinski/Wittmann (Hrsg.), Urheberrecht! – Festschrift für Michel M. Walter zum 80. Geburtstag, Wien 2018, S. 454 – 464
Annette Gilbert, Im toten Winkel der Literatur. Grenzfälle literarischer Werkwerdung seit den 1950er Jahren, Paderborn: Fink, 2018.
Antonia Putzger, Marion Heisterberg und Susanne Müller-Bechtel (Hgg.), Nichts Neues Schaffen. Perspektiven auf die treue Kopie 1300 bis 1900, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2018.
- Marion Heisterberg, Susanne Müller-Bechtel & Antonia Putzger, Introduction: Particular, not Singular, or: What do copies want?, ibid., 17-26.
- Grischka Petri, The Photograph as Acheiropoieton: A Copyright Perspective, ibid., 153-174.
Annette Gilbert, Vom Geben und Nehmen. Literarische Zitationskkultur im Wandel, in: Springerin XXIV:2 (2018), 48-53.
Frank Dietrich, Johannes Müller-Salo, Reinold Schmücker (Hrsg.), Zeit – eine normative Ressource? Frankfurt am Main 2018: Vittorio Klostermann (288 S.)
- Frank Dietrich, Johannes Müller-Salo, Reinold Schmücker, "Zeit: eine normative Ressource?", ibid., 7-12.
- Reinold Schmücker, "Die zeitliche Dimension der Gerechtigkeit: Vier Hinsichten ihrer ethischen Bedeutung", ibid., 139-154.
Thomas Dreier / Gernot Schulze, unter Mitwirkung von Louisa Specht, Urheberrechtsgesetz (UrhG).
Verwertungsgesellschaftengesetz, Kunsturhebergesetz. Kommentar, 6. Aufl., München: Beck 2018.
Reinold Schmücker, "Die zeitliche Dimension der Gerechtigkeit und ihre Bedeutung für die Ethik", in: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 65:5 (2017), 909-928.
Maria Elisabeth Reicher, Der Autor und seine Absichten,
in: Thomas Eder (eds.), Franz Josef Czernin. München: edition text+kritik, 2017, 172-190.
Reinold Schmücker, "Wie ist künstlerische Wiederholung möglich?",
in: Till Julian Huss / Elena Winkler (eds.), Wiederholung und Kunst. Strategie, Tradition, ästhetischer Grundbegriff, Berlin: Kadmos 2017, 51-61.
Annette Gilbert / Jan-Frederik Bandel / Tania Prill (eds.), Under the Radar. Underground Zines and Self-Publications 1965?1975,
Leipzig: Spector Books 2017.
Thomas Dreier, Law and Images: Normative Models of Representation and Abstraction,
in: Werner Gephart / Jure Leko (eds.), Law and the Arts: Elective Affinities and Relationships of Tension, Frankfurt a. M.: Klostermann, 2017, 155-176.
Pavel Zahrádka, Ontologie díla v autorském zákoně České republiky (The Ontology of a Work in the Copyright Law of the Czech Republic),
in: Filosofický časopis 65:5 (2017), 739-761.
Thomas Dreier, Einführung zum Schwerpunktthema "Wiedergutmachung und Urheberrecht - Verlängerung urheberrechtlicher Schutzfristen für Opfer der NS-Herrschaft?",
GRUR 2017, Heft 9, 858-860.
Eberhard Ortland, Copies of Famous Pictures in Tadao Andō's "Garden of Fine Art" in Kyōto,
in: Corinna Forberg / Philipp W. Stockhammer (Hgg.), The Transformative Power of the Copy: A Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Approach, Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2017, 205-239.
Thomas Dreier, "Bilder im Zeitalter ihrer vernetzten Kommunizierbarkeit",
Zeitschrift für Geistiges Eigentum / Intellectual Property Journal 9:2 (2017), 135-148.
Darren Hudson Hick, Artistic License. The Philosophical Problems of Copyright and Appropriation,
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017.
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Review: James O. Young, in: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 6:3 (2018), pp. 362-365.
Martin Hoffmann, Reinold Schmücker, Héctor Wittwer (Hrsg.), Vorrang der Moral?: Eine metaethische Kontroverse,
Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann 2017.
- Martin Hoffmann, Reinold Schmücker, Héctor Wittwer, "Vorrang der Moral?", ebd., 7-28.
- Reinold Schmücker, "Der relative Vorrang der Moral", ebd., 167-184
- Martin Hoffmann, "Welche Art von Vorrang? Welche Art von Moral?", ebd., 227-243.
Darren Hudson Hick & Reinold Schmücker (eds.), The Aesthetics and Ethics of Copying,
London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016; 2nd ed. (Paperback) 2017.
- Darren Hudson Hick / Reinold Schmücker, Preface, in: The Aesthetics and Ethics of Copying, xv-xx.
- Dieter Birnbacher, "Copying and the Limits of Substitutability", ibid., 3-17.
- Mark Alfino, "Deep Copy Culture", ibid., 19-37.
- Wybo Houkes, "Imitation and Replication of Technologies: The Prospects for an Evolutionary Ethics of Copying", ibid., 39-57.
- Maria Elisabeth Reicher, "What Is the Object in Which Copyright Can Subsist? An Ontological Analysis", ibid., 61-80.
- Amrei Bahr, "What Is an Artifact Copy? A Quadrinomial Definition", ibid., 81-98.
- Massimiliano Carrara, "Are Counterfeits Copies?", ibid., 99-118.
- Darren Hudson Hick, "The Nature of Copying and the Singular Literary Work", ibid., 119-132.
- Annette Gilbert, "Illegitimate Legitimate Copies: A Grey Area in Dealing with Literary Works", ibid., 135-151.
- James O. Young, "Appropriating Fictional Characters", ibid., 153-172.
- David Oels, "Plagiarizing Nonfiction : Legal Cases, Aesthetic Questions, and the Rules of Copying", ibid., 173-186.
- Lisa Jones, "Appropriation and Derogation: When Is It Wrong to Appropriate?", ibid., 187-210.
- Jan Bäcklund, "The Paradox of Style as a Concept of Art", ibid., 211-223.
- Eberhard Ortland, "Blurred Lines: A Case Study on the Ethics and Aesthetics of Copying", ibid., 225-247.
- Thomas Dreier, "The Ethics of Copyright and droit d'auteur", ibid., 251-269.
- Lionel Bently, "Self-Copying and Copyright", ibid., 271-294.
- Charles Melvin Ess, "Ethical Approaches for Copying Digital Artifacts: What Would the Exemplary Person [junzi] / a Good Person [phronemos] Say?", ibid., 295-313.
- Aram Sinnreich, "Ethics, Evolved: An International Perspective on Copying in the Networked Age", ibid., 315-334.
- Jakub Macek / Pavel Zahrádka, "Online Piracy and the Transformation of the Audiences? Practices: The Case of the Czech Republic", ibid., 335-358.
- Reinold Schmücker, "Normative Resources and Domain-specific Principles: Heading for an Ethics of Copying", ibid., 359-377.
- Hans Nieswandt, "In Defence of Disco Edits", ibid., 381-391.
- Pavel Zahrádka, Etika kopírování kulturních obsahů: Kvalitativní studie internetového pirátství v České republice" ["The Ethics of Copying of Cultural Content: A Qualitative Study of Internet Piracy in the Czech Republic"], in: Iluminace 4/28 (2016)
- Alexander Peukert / Marcus Sonnenberg, Das Urheberrecht und der Wandel des wissenschaftlichen Kommunikationssystems, in: Peter Weingart/Niels Taubert (Hgg.), Wissenschaftliches Publizieren. Zwischen Digitalisierung, Leistungsmessung, Ökonomisierung und medialer Beobachtung, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2016, 211-241.
- Pavel Zahrádka, "Whither the Aesthetics of Popular Culture", The Central European Journal of Aesthetics 2/9 (2016).
- Alexander Peukert, "A Doctrine of the Public Domain", in: Josef Drexl (ed.), The Innovation Society and Intellectual Property, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing 2016.
- Wendy J. Gordon, "Copyright and Negligence as Mirror Models: On Not Mistaking for the Right Hand What the Left Hand is Doing," in: G. B. Ramello & T. Eisenberg (eds.), Comparative Law and Economics, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2016, 311-335
- Annette Gilbert (ed.): Publishing as Artistic Practice, Berlin: Sternberg 2016(304 pp.).
- Aram Sinnreich, "Sharing in spirit: Kopimism and the digital Eucharist", in: Information, Communication & Society 19:4 (2016), 504-517.
- Alexander Peukert, "The Colonial Legacy of the International Copyright System", in: Mamadou Diawara & Ute Röschenthaler (eds.), Copyright Africa. How intellectual property, media and markets transform immaterial cultural goods, Oxford: Sean Kingston Publishing, 2016, 37-68.
- Aram Sinnreich, "Slicing the Pie: The Search for an Equitable Recorded Music Economy", in: P. Wikstrom & R. DeFillippi (eds.), Business Innovation and Disruption in the Music Industry, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2016, 153-174.
- Patricia Aufderheide / Aram Sinnreich, "Documentarians, fair use, and free expression: Changes in copyright attitudes and actions with access to best practices", in: Information, Communication & Society 19:2 (2016), 178-187.
- Pavel Zahrádka, "Estetické souzení v perspektivě estetického metarelativismu" (Aesthetic Judgement from the Perspective of Aesthetic Meta-Relativism; in tschechischer Sprache), in: Filosofický časopis 64:3 (2016), 367-386.
- Alexander Peukert, "The Coexistence of Trade Mark Laws and Rights on the Internet, and the Impact of Geolocation Technologies", International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 47(1) 2016, 60-87.
- Wolfgang Ullrich, Der kreative Mensch. Streit um eine Idee, Salzburg: Residenz 2016 (120 S.).
- Thomas Dreier / Veronika Fischer / Anne van Raay / Indra Spiecker gen. Döhmann (eds.), Informationen der öffentlichen Hand - Zugang und Nutzung, Baden-Baden: Nomos 2016 (596 S.).
- Thomas Dreier / P. Bernt Hugenholtz, Concise European Copyright Law, Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International, 2. Aufl. 2016 (699 S.).
- Reinold Schmücker, "Normative Ressources and Domain-sepcific Principles for an Ethics of Copying", ZiF-Mitteilungen 1|2016, p. 28-36.
- Thomas Dreier, "Thoughts on revising the limitations on copyright under Directive 2001/29", Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice 11:2 (2016), 138-146.
- Annette Gilbert , "Mein Buch!", in: Eric Otto Frihd (ed.): Produktion und Reproduktion, Köln: Walther König 2015, 185-196.
- Reinold Schmücker, "Kappes und Anti-Kappes. Eine Miszelle zur Philosophie des Plagiats", in: Christiane Lahusen, Christoph Markschies (eds.), Zitat, Paraphrase, Plagiat. Wissenschaft zwischen guter Praxis und Fehlverhalten, Frankfurt / New York: Campus 2015, 163-180.
- Alexander Peukert, "Vom Plagiat zur wissenschaftlichen Redlichkeit. Plädoyer für ein neues Paradigma bei der Beurteilung wissenschaftlichen Fehlverhaltens", in: Christiane Lahusen / Christoph Markschies (eds.), Zitat, Paraphrase, Plagiat. Wissenschaft zwischen guter Praxis und Fehlverhalten, Frankfurt / New York: Campus 2015, 261-276.
- Annette Gilbert, "Appropriation (&) Literature", in: Neue Rundschau 126:4 (2015), 158-162.
- Peter Schneck, "Who Owns Uncle Tom's Cabin? Literature as Cultural Property", in: Helle Porsdam (ed.), Copyrighting Creativity: Creative Values, Cultural Heritage Institutions and Systems of Intellectual Property, London: Ashgate 2015, 129-150.
- Eberhard Ortland, "Kopierhandlungen", in: Daniel Martin Feige / Judith Siegmund (eds.), Kunst und Handlung. Ästhetische und handlungstheoretische Perspektiven, Bielefeld: Transcript 2015, 233-258.
- Thomas Dreier, "Überlegungen zur Revision des Schrankenkatalogs der Richtlinie 2001/29/EG", GRUR Int. 64:7-8 (2015), (Festschrift für Gerhard Schricker zum 80. Geburtstag), 648-656.
- Alexander Peukert, The Fundamental Right to (Intellectual) Property and the Discretion of the Legislature, in: Christophe Geiger (ed.), Research Handbook on Human Rights and Intellectual Property, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2015, 132-148.
- Thomas Dreier, "Elektronische Leseplätze in Bibliotheken – Ein Urteil zum Nachteil von Autoren und Verlagen", Neue Juristische Wochenschrift 68:27 (2015), 1905-1909.
- Thomas Dreier / Ellen Euler, "Onleihe und virtueller Museumsbummel – Das Menschenrecht auf kulturelle Teilhabe im 21. Jahrhundert", in: Paul Klimpel / Ellen Euler (eds.), Der Vergangenheit eine Zukunft – Kulturelles Erbe in der digitalen Welt, Berlin: iRights.Media 2015, 192-206.
- Eberhard Ortland, "Monika Dommann, Autoren und Apparate" (Rezension), in: Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 38:2 (2015), 197-200.
- Thomas Dreier / Reto Hilty (eds.), Vom Magnettonband zu Social Media – Festschrift 50 Jahre Urheberrechtsgesetz (UrhG), München: Beck 2015 (437 S.).