(Re)structuring Copyright

Book excerpt: In this bold and persuasive work Daniel Gervais, one of the world’s leading thinkers on the subject of intellectual property, argues that the international copyright system is in need of a root and branch rethink. As the Internet alters the world in which copyright operates beyond all recognition, a world increasingly defined by the might of online intermediaries and spawning a generation who are simultaneously authors, users and re-users of creative works, the structure of copyright in its current form is inadequate and unfit for purpose. This ambitious and far-reaching book sets out to diagnose in some detail the problems faced by copyright, before eloquently mapping out a path for comprehensive and structured reform. It contributes a reasoned and novel voice to a debate that is all too often driven by ignorance and partisan self-interest.