University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Journalism Professor Clay Calvert has won top faculty paper in the in the Law and Policy Division for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Southeast Colloquium.   The event will take place in Baton Rouge on March 3-5, 2016.

The paper, Copyright in Inanimate Characters: The Disturbing Proliferation of Microworks and Its Negative Effects on Copyright and Free Expression​, examines and critiques growing judicial recognition of copyright in inanimate characters.  The paper was co-authored with UFJCJC 1993 PhD graduate Matthew Bunker, now Reese Phifer Professor of Journalism at the University of Alabama. Bunker was the College’s first PhD graduate to be named an Alumnus of Distinction.

Calvert and Bunker also had a second paper accepted in the Law and Policy Division. “Fissures, Fractures & Doctrinal Drifts: Paying the Price in First Amendment Jurisprudence for a Half-Decade of Avoidance, Minimalism & Partisanship” examines how the U.S. Supreme Court’s adherence to principles of constitutional avoidance and judicial minimalism, along with partisan rifts among the justices, have detrimentally affected multiple First Amendment doctrines over the past five years.

Copyright in Inanimate Characters: The Disturbing Proliferation of Microworks and Its Negative Effects on Copyright and Free Expression​

Abstract:

Using the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s September 2015 decision in DC Comics v. Towle as an analytical springboard, this paper examines and critiques growing judicial recognition of copyright in inanimate characters.  In Towle, the Ninth Circuit held that the Batmobile – a fictional car driven by a fictional superhero – was copyrightable.  The paper explores the problems with the Ninth Circuit’s analysis and argues that increasing copyright protection for what the authors call “microworks” is misguided and harms First Amendment interests.

Fissures, Fractures & Doctrinal Drifts: Paying the Price in First Amendment Jurisprudence for a Half-Decade of Avoidance, Minimalism & Partisanship

Abstract:

This paper examines how the U.S. Supreme Court’s adherence to principles of constitutional avoidance and judicial minimalism, along with partisan rifts among the justices, have detrimentally affected multiple First Amendment doctrines over the past five years.  The doctrines analyzed here include true threats, broadcast indecency, offensive expression, government speech and strict scrutiny, as well as the fundamental dichotomy between content-based and content-neutral regulations.  Cases addressed in this paper include, among others, a quartet of Supreme Court rulings from 2015: 1) Elonis v. United States; 2) Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans; 3) Reed v. Town of Gilbert; and 4) Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar.

Posted: February 15, 2016
Category: Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project News, Research News
Tagged as: AEJMC, Clay Calvert