2026 Grafstein Lecture in Communications

In "Copyright's Edges and The Promise of Free Speech", Professor Silbey will explore how copyright law in the United States is increasingly implemented to thwart learning and free expression, contrary to its original goals. This lecture will discuss three copyright law doctrines that have come under increasing pressure in the internet age to narrow the range of lawful free expression. The doctrines are not the usual suspects in copyright law. They concern the scope of facts, de minimis copies, and personal uses — all of which had broader application before the digital age made copying ubiquitous and essential to everyday communication. This lecture describes these age-old doctrines and their renewed relevance today, such as in relation to current debates over "fake news," access to information, book banning, and promoting diversity of expression.
This event is open to all. We hope you will join us for this timely and thought-provoking lecture.

About the Speaker

Professor Jessica Silbey is the Honorable Frank Kenison Distinguished Scholar in Law and Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law. She teaches and writes in the areas of intellectual property and technology law, constitutional law, and law and the humanities. In addition to a law degree, she has a PhD in comparative literature and draws on her studies of literature and film to inform her research and practice in her specialty areas. She is the author of several books, including two on intellectual property, The Eureka Myth: Creators, Innovators and Everyday Intellectual Property (2015) and Against Progress: Intellectual Property and Fundamental Values in the Internet Age (2022). She was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2018 and is an elected member of the American Law Institute.