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Commentary Examines False Copyright Claims on Works in Public Domain

Mazzone, Jason, “Copyfraud”. Brooklyn Law School, Legal Studies Paper No. 40 Available at SSRN [via Public Knowledge]

  • “Copyfraud is everywhere. False copyright notices appear on modern reprints of Shakespeare’s plays, Beethoven’s piano scores, greeting card versions of Monet’s Water Lilies, and even the U.S. Constitution. Archives claim blanket copyright in everything in their collections. Vendors of microfilmed versions of historical newspapers assert copyright ownership. These false copyright claims, which are often accompanied by threatened litigation for reproducing a work without the owner’s permission, result in users seeking licenses and paying fees to reproduce works that are free for everyone to use.”
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