James Boyle (born 1959) is a Scottish

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

scholar. He is the William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law and co-founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke University School of Law in Durham,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. He is most prominently known for advocating looser copyright policies in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and worldwide.

Teaching and activism

Boyle graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1980 and subsequently studied at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. He joined Duke University School of Law in July 2000.Biography
at Duke University School of Law He had previously taught at American University, Yale,

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. In 2002, he was one of the founding board members of Creative Commons, and held the position of

Chairman of the Board The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

in 2009, after which he stepped down. He also co-founded Science Commons, which aims to expand the Creative Commons mission into the realm of scientific and technical data, and ccLearn, a division of Creative Commons aimed at facilitating access to open education resources.Biography
on Boyle's official website. Retrieved 15 March 2009. In 2006, he earned the Duke Bar Association Distinguished Teaching Award. The courses he teaches include "Intellectual Property", "The Constitution in Cyberspace", "Law and Literature", "Jurisprudence", and "

Tort A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with cri ...

s".

Written works

He is the author of ''The Line: AI & The Future of Personhood'', ''Shamans, Software and Spleens: Law and Construction of the Information Society'' as well as a novel published under a Creative Commons license, ''The Shakespeare Chronicles''. In his work on intellectual property, ''The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind'' (2008), Boyle argues that the current system of copyright protections fails to fulfill the original intent of copyright: rewarding and encouraging creativity. It was also published under a non-commercial CC BY-NC-SA

Creative Commons license A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bu ...

. Boyle also contributes a column to the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' New Technology Policy Forum. In 2011, Boyle was one of five experts consulted for the '' Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth'', a comprehensive analysis of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's intellectual property system that made suggestions for data-driven reform of the system."(When) Is Copyright Reform Possible? Lessons from the Hargreaves Review" by James Boyle (2015)
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Selected publications

* ''Shamans, Software and Spleens: Law and Construction of the Information Society'', Harvard University Press 1997, * ''The Public Domain'' (ed), Winter/Spring 2003 edition of ''Law and Contemporary Problems'' (vol 66, ##1–2), Duke University School of Law * '' Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain '', Duke University Center for the Study of the Public Domain 2006, * ''Cultural Environmentalism @ 10'' (ed, with Lawrence Lessig), Spring 2007 edition of ''Law and Contemporary Problems'' (vol 70, #2), Duke University School of Law ** ''Cultural Environmentalism and Beyond'' * ''The Shakespeare Chronicles: A Novel'', Lulu Press 2006, * ''Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind'',

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

2008, * ''Theft: A History of Music'', CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2017, * ''The Line: AI & The Future of Personhood'',

MIT Press The MIT Press is the university press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MIT Press publishes a number of academic journals and has been a pioneer in the Open Ac ...

2024,

References

External links

*
Biography
at Duke University School of Law *
''The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind''
2008
RSA Vision webcast – James Boyle on "The Public Domain: enclosing the commons of the mind"
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, James 1959 births 20th-century Scottish educators 21st-century Scottish educators Access to Knowledge activists Alumni of the University of Glasgow American legal scholars Computer law scholars Copyright scholars Copyright activists Creative Commons Creative Commons-licensed authors Duke University School of Law faculty Harvard Law School alumni Harvard Law School faculty Living people British male essayists Male novelists Scottish male writers Place of birth missing (living people) Scottish columnists Scottish emigrants to the United States Scottish legal professionals Scottish legal scholars University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni