Another terrific law journal article for the legal eagles. A working draft of Ann Bartow's "The Hegemony of the Copyright Treatise," is available from the SSRN website. She criticises the uncritical acceptance by the courts of the standard copyright textbooks, most specifically Nimmer on Copyright. Bartow says that she would be unlikely to be able to produce "an equally comprehensive treatise that is objectively more accurate" but even "neutral" copyright textbook authors have personal values which colour their interpretation of the law. And that this should be borne in mind when their treatises are being used by the courts to apply that law.
She uses an Einstein quote up front which beautifully encapsulates the message of the article, "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
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