Considerations for translation rights 2.0

Abstract

As the contours of the globalized digital information society become apparent, so does the need for a reform of translation rights within the intellectual property regime. The history of translation rights provides insights that help us understand the underlying economic and political tensions in copyright negotiations today. The various versions of agency in translation studies, which run parallel to recent interactive technologies, destabilize important notions in copyright law, such as authorship, originality, and the idea-expression dichotomy. Finally, translational ethics can perhaps contribute to redirect current dialogues on copyright and language policy towards increased interdisciplinarity and internationalism, in part, as a result of decentralizing power.