A SECOND LOOK AT THE RIGHT OF FIRST PUBLICATION

摘要

Before the Copyright Act of 1976 took effect, publication was required to secure federal statutory copyright protection for most creative works.~1 An unpublished work was protected by a "right of first publication," which enabled the owner~2 to decide if, when, how, and with whom to distribute or exploit a market for the work. "The right of publication implicates a threshold decision by the author whether and in what form to release his work."~3 This right was critical because differences in the format chosen to communicate a work, and the entities partnered with to exploit the work, could change expectations about risk and reward and thus alter the decision to disseminate the work at all.