There\u27s No Such Thing as Independent Creation, and It\u27s a Good Thing, Too

Independent creation is the foundation of U.S. copyright law. A work is only original and, thus, copyrightable to the extent that it is independently created by its author and not copied from another source. And a work can be deemed infringing only if it is not independently created. Moreover, independent creation provides the grounding for all major theoretical justifications for copyright law. Unfortunately, the doctrine cannot bear the substantial weight that has been foisted upon it. This Article argues that copyright law’s independent creation doctrine rests on a set of discarded psychological assumptions about memory, copying, and creativity. When those assumptions are replaced with contemporary accounts of how human memory influences the creative process, the independent creation doctrine becomes empirically meaningless. Independent creation, as copyright law understands it, does not exist. Because the independent creation doctrine lacks any meaningful legitimacy, it has become a site of legal privilege and bias. Copyright law’s treatment of independent creation has favored some creators’ claims at the expense of others, privileging plaintiffs, older creators, and wealthier creators. These biases distort the law’s attempt to optimally regulate cultural production. This Article offers several proposals for addressing these concerns, from rebalancing legal doctrines to a more radical solution: the wholesale jettisoning of independent creation. Copyright law does not need the independent creation doctrine, and it would be better off without it

Evaluation of the Trajectory Operations Applications Software Task (TOAST). Volume 2: Interview transcripts

The Trajectory Operations Applications Software Task (TOAST) is a software development project whose purpose is to provide trajectory operation pre-mission and real-time support for the Space Shuttle. The purpose of the evaluation was to evaluate TOAST as an Application Manager - to assess current and planned capabilities, compare capabilities to commercially-available off the shelf (COTS) software, and analyze requirements of MCC and Flight Analysis Design System (FADS) for TOAST implementation. As a major part of the data gathering for the evaluation, interviews were conducted with NASA and contractor personnel. Real-time and flight design users, orbit navigation users, the TOAST developers, and management were interviewed. Code reviews and demonstrations were also held. Each of these interviews was videotaped and transcribed as appropriate. Transcripts were edited and are presented chronologically

Interview with The University of Manchester Faculty e-learning Managers conducted by Graham McElearney for ALT News Online, Issue 18, November 2009.

Graham McElearney conducted an interview with the four Faculty e-learning Managers at The University of Manchester. This document is the full transcript of the interview. The discussion includes e-learning strategy, organisational structure, current choices of tools and the future of the institutional VLE

Spartan Daily, April 22, 1993

Volume 100, Issue 52https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8410/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily, April 22, 1993

Volume 100, Issue 52https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8410/thumbnail.jp