Copyright Protection for Works of Foreign Origin

Abstract

Copyright law is premised on the principle of territoriality, under which a nation’s intellectual property laws apply only to conduct occurring within its own borders.1 With globalization, of course, it has long been necessary for nations to make arrangements with each other to accommodate the flow of information and copyrighted works across international borders. The gradual evolution of United States law to provide copyright protection for works of foreign origin illustrates some of the challenges still presented by the continuing globalization of copyright law.