An inquiry into copyright infringement, from perspectives including law, literature, history, economics, music, and modern art.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Inspiration or infringement: the plagiarist in court Isabella Alexander; Part II. History: 2. Nineteenth-century Anglo-US copyright relations: the language of piracy versus the moral high ground Catherine Seville; 3. Language, practice and history Adrian Johns; Part III. Comparative Law: 4. The metamorphosis of contrefaçon in French copyright law David Lefranc (translated by Sebastien Oddos); 5. A common lawyer's perspective on contrefaçon Jane Ginsburg; Part IV. Economics: 6. Copyright infringement, 'free-riding' and the lifeworld Anne Barron; 7. Copyright and the limits of law-and-economics analysis Jonathan Aldred; Part V. Linguistics: 8. 'Substantial similarity of expression' in copyright infringement actions: a linguistic perspective Alan Durant; 9. Refining notions of idea and expression through linguistic analysis Graeme B. Dinwoodie; Part VI. Computer Software: 10. Copyright, piracy and software Jon Crowcroft; 11. Of plots, puddings and draught-excluders: the law as it applies to the infringement of computer programs Jennifer Davis; Part VII. Information Studies: 12. Measuring text re-use in the news industry Paul Clough; 13. Reflections on measuring text re-use from a copyright law perspective Tanya Aplin; Part VIII. Literature: 14. Unoriginal genius: plagiarism and the construction of 'romantic' authorship Nick Groom; 15. The genius and the labourer: authorship in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century copyright law Isabella Alexander; Part IX. Art: 16. Piracy and authorship in contemporary art and the artistic commonwealth Daniel Mcclean; 17. Copyright's imperfect republic and the artistic commonwealth Jonathan Griffiths; Part X. Sociology and Music: 18. Reggae open source: how the absence of copyright enabled the emergence of popular music in Jamaica Jason Toynbee; 19. 'Free-riding on the riddim'? - Open source copyright law and reggae music in Jamaica Johnson Okpaluba.