User Rights to Commercial Copies of Copyright Works

Abstract

The chapter begins the investigation of the rights users have to copyright works by looking at the scope of the personal property rights users may have in copies of copyright works. These rights have been largely overlooked in copyright law and theory. Applying the ownership spectrum developed by James W. Harris in Property and Justice (1996) this chapter shows how copyright users’ personal property rights are distinct from other forms of personal property and heavily dictated by the exclusive property rights of copyright holders in the copyright work. The personal property rights of copyright users fare poorly on the ownership spectrum and this trend is intensified by commercial practices of copyright holders endorsed by courts, and the struggles of legislatures and courts to deal with the dematerialization of copies of copyright works. This account of the personal property rights of copyright users reveals a weak strain of copyright user rights.