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- Title
"THE WORLD WAS WIDE ENOUGH": GRANTING COPYRIGHT PROTECTION TO THEATRICAL COSTUMES IN THE STREAMING ERA.
- Authors
KIEFFER, MAGGIE
- Abstract
Viewers have "not throw[n] away [their] shot" to see Hamilton: An American Musical since its 2015 Broadway debut. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, a taped version of the stage musical debuted on Disney+ and was viewed in millions of households. With the show's growing streaming success, its Tony Award-winning costumes are available just a click and screenshot away and are accessible to more people than ever before. But as United States copyright law currently stands, these iconic costumes are unprotected from the growing threat of garment piracy. This Note implores Congress to create an exception to the utilitarianarticle ban that has thus far prohibited theatrical costumes from receiving copyright protection. In creating this bright-line exception, Congress would have to address the United States Copyright Office's 1991 Policy Pronouncement, which stated that a policy of "nonregisterability" would apply to theatrical costumes. While courts are not required to follow the Office's policy pronouncements, federal courts have followed this Policy as announced. A move away from this lack of protection through a bright-line exception to the utilitarian-article ban is needed because theatrical costumes fundamentally differ from other clothing. Unlike high-fashion designs, fanciful Halloween costumes, or off-the-rack clothing, theatrical costumes serve an artistic purpose at their core: these costumes allow an actor, on stage in a theatrical work of art, to portray a character. This performative function transforms theatrical costumes into a work of art, differentiating them from utilitarian clothing. As these costumes become more accessible to the public through streaming, costume designers require more protection for their work. An exception to the utilitarian-article ban specifically for theatrical costumes will strike an appropriate balance between artistic expression, protection for designers, fan expression, and future creativity.
- Subjects
UNITED States; COPYRIGHT; HAMILTON: An American Musical (Theatrical production); CORONAVIRUS diseases; WALT Disney Co.
- Publication
University of Illinois Law Review, 2023, Vol 2023, Issue 2, p275
- ISSN
0276-9948
- Publication type
Article