Repository logo
 

Global Content Protection Through Automation – A Transnational Law Perspective

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

No Thumbnail Available

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Grosse Ruse-Khan, HM 

Abstract

When Phillip Jessup coined the term ‘transnational law’ in the 1950ies, he tried to capture ‘all law which regulates actions or events that transcend national frontiers. Both public and private international law are included, as are other rules which do not wholly fit into such standard categories.’ Within the third category, those ‘other rules’ somewhere in between existing schemas, Jessup specifically included rules emanating from agreements among the parties involved – be it ‘individuals, corporations, states, organizations of states, or other groups’. While he certainly had forms of what we nowadays call ‘private orders’ (like lex mercatoria) in mind, he could not have thought of globally operating online platforms which set their own rules (or ‘community guidelines’), implement them through their codes and user interfaces, and enforce them through algorithms. Nevertheless, I suggest that it is the notion of transnational law which offers a useful lens to look at developments in the protection of intangible assets which are based on norms set by private actors, often have global reach and a form of direct effect not paralleled by any state enforcement machinery. It enables us to identify as law what we otherwise might discard, and in turn puts a spotlight on the effect and (cross-border) implications of (quasi-)legal orders outside traditional paradigms.

Description

Keywords

4803 International and Comparative Law, 4804 Law In Context, 48 Law and Legal Studies, 4806 Private Law and Civil Obligations

Journal Title

IIC - International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0018-9855
2195-0237

Volume Title

49

Publisher

Springer Nature