A framework for a capabilities-based approach to copyright

Abstract

This article highlights the importance of an analysis of copyright law from a human development perspective. Drawing on Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach, it outlines why copyright scholarship and policymaking should address human capabilities. It also explores several vital questions that a human development approach to copyright raises, including questions about the distributional effects of copyright law. It examines Mary Sue fan fiction through the lens of the Capabilities Approach to illustrate how the approach differs from the standard utilitarian approach to copyright. Furthermore, it argues that several factors associated with a country's level of development, particularly its social, economic, and institutional contexts, affect the relationship between copyright and human capabilities. Therefore, rather than making broad generalizations about whether or not copyright law is good or bad for human development, it concludes that aspects of copyright law can enhance human development in the presence of certain other factors (such as strong indigenous industries and institutions). Conversely, aspects of copyright law can have a significant negative impact on human capabilities in certain environments, such as a weak institutional environment, or a socio-economic environment that is fraught with inequality. To illustrate this point, the article examines the issue of piracy through the lens of the Capabilities Approach.