Uncle Tom's Cabin in the Public Domain

Abstract:     
What is the interaction between works of art and the public domain? Copyright owners would have us believe in the Romantic Era notion of pure creativity. Proponents of the public domain argue that new works are primarily developed from prior creations. This paper traces the history of Stowe's novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and identifies the interaction between the new text, prior and subsequent works, and social, political and cultural discourse.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 122

Keywords: Public Domain, copyright, creativity, intellectual property

JEL Classification: O34, O38, K10, L82

working papers series