ABSTRACT
Copyright affords its owners exclusive rights of reproduction of works of authorship. Authors’ rights and copyright are of widespread concern in contemporary society. Copyright doctrine appears especially incoherent in the digital world, where even searching on the internet involves copying. Copyright may be viewed upon an expression model, and understood from an instrumental or deontological perspective. An author’s choice of agent to communicate his speech is safeguarded in Jewish tradition. Viewing copyright on a model of expression is affirmed by principles put forward in Kantian and Jewish thought. The moral right of integrity allows an author to select and preserve the intended presentation of the content and form of their work. Positive freedom sets forth an ethic of communication calling for the respect of all authors. The expression model upholds the rights of each and all individual authors, and also the good: the public benefit of encouraging learning.
