This Article calls into question the primary meaning of copyright law. It argues that copyright is not primarily a legal instrument, but rather a fundamental mode of human existence. The starting point of the analysis is Kant’s definition of a book as a "public address" and of author’s rights as ultimately being grounded in the furtherance and maintenance of truth. Building on Kant’s argument, the Article defines the copyright primary subject matter as the act of speaking publicly in one’s own name, and the copyright sphere as the author-public coalescence that such act of speaking generates. This enables reaching a proper understanding of the scope of copyright and to characterizing its specificity as compared to its "fellow rights," patents and trademarks.

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Copyright and Truth
Maurizio Borghi1
1Brunel University, West London.
Citation Information: Theoretical Inquiries in Law. Volume 12, Issue 1, Pages 1–27, ISSN (Online) 1565-3404, DOI: 10.2202/1565-3404.1261, January 2011
Publication History:
- Published Online:
- 2011-01-03


















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