Copyright protection of unpublished works in the common law world

摘要

This is a welcome and uncommon incursion by a lawyer into the obscure topic of copyright in unpublished works. That clearly makes it relevant to archivists, though few I think will wish to read the whole book. It concentrates on the common law world, primarily the United Kingdom but also those countries whose legal systems derive from it, notably the USA and Commonwealth countries, because common law systems have treated unpublished works differently from published ones. Archivists are directly affected by that through the lengthy copyright term that still applies to many unpublished works. The book originated as a PhD thesis and still exhibits the enthusiasm of the former student seeking to impress, notably through some not entirely relevant advocacy for the replacement of the UK's long list of copyright exceptions with a US-style fair use exception.