Silvers

DISCUSSION

A. The Statute

Article I, section 8, clause 8, of the Constitution states: “The Congress shall have Power . . . To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors . . . the exclusive Right to their . . . Writings . . . .” As is clear from its text, that clause of the Constitution grants no substantive protections to authors. Rather, Congress is empowered to provide copyright protection.

[1] Copyright, therefore, is a creature of statute, and the only rights that exist under copyright law are those granted by statute. As the Supreme Court wrote 170 years ago:

This right [in copyright] . . . does not exist at com- mon law—it originated, if at all, under the acts of congress. No one can deny that when the legislature are about to vest an exclusive right in an author or an inventor, they have the power to prescribe the conditions on which such right shall be enjoyed . . . . SILVERS v. SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT 3615 Wheaton v. Peters, 33 U.S. (8 Pet.) 591, 663-64 (1834); see also Stewart v. Abend, 495 U.S. 207, 251 (1990) (Stevens, J., dissenting) (stating that copyright is statutorily created); M. Kramer Mfg. Co.…