copyright and con law

[Malla Pollack]

IHMO the tie (though often unstated in these posts, apologies to the
list) is that without the merger doctrine (or the related
expression/idea and expression/fact dichotomies) Copyright would be in
head on collision with the First Amendment-- a doctrine mentioned by the
Sp Ct in Feist.  One could argue, that without this implicit limit on
copyright, the First Amendment (as later statement of the sovereign
people) would have voided the IP Power in Article I.

Malla Pollack
Northern Illinois Univ., College of Law
DeKalb, Illinois 60115
815-753-1160; (fax) 815-753-9499
mallapollack at niu.edu