In a historic achievement, Lewis & Clark Law Professor Lydia Loren has helped lead the first-ever Restatement of Copyright to completion as one of five Reporters appointed by the American Law Institute (ALI). Initiated in 2015, this 10-year endeavor culminated in the ALI’s unanimous approval of the final sections of this comprehensive document, which spans 11 chapters and 83 sections.
We asked Professor Loren to share some insights on the process and what it means.
What is a restatement?
“Restatements of law are crucial parts of legal scholarship, seeking to inform those in the legal field, provide clear articulations of where the law currently stands, and aid in judges’ rulings. While not binding authority themselves, these compilations of common law are highly persuasive and integral parts of legal practice.
For over a century, the ALI founded in 1923 with a mission to clarify and improve the law has produced Restatements of the Law in numerous legal fields. A Restatement isn’t a statute, and it doesn’t carry the force of law. But over the decades, courts at all levels have cited Restatements across many fields—including torts, contracts, and property—as helpful guides that synthesize the law in their fields.”
Who did you work with, what was the process?
“I served as an Associate Reporter along with the lead Reporter, Christopher Jon Springman (New York University, School of Law), and fellow Associate Reporters, Daniel J. Gervais (Vanderbilt University Law School), R. Anthony Reese (University of California, Irvine School of Law), and Molly S. Van Houweling (University of California, Berkeley School of Law). The team of Reporters worked with an appointed group of almost 60 Advisors and more than 100 Consultative Group members throughout the drafting process.
Being one of the Associate Reporters on this project has been a highlight of my legal career. It has been incredibly rewarding to work with the deeply knowledgeable team of Reporters, and to have feedback from Advisers, Liaisons, and ALI members with experiences in a variety of industries and settings.”
Why a Copyright Restatement—and why now?
“We began this project in 2014, when the ALI appointed us as the Reporter team. It was clear from the beginning that there was both an opportunity and a need. The Copyright Act of 1976 had generated decades of judicial interpretation, while new tech nological and cultural developments, especially in the digital realm, raised questions that were not squarely answered by the statute or case law.
As the U.S. moves deeper into the digital and AI age, interpretive issues only become more salient. We believed (and still believe) that copyright law’s core principles are robust enough to adapt to new contexts, and we saw the value of providing a structured resource to help courts navigate the sometimes messy landscape of precedent. The Restatement does not directly address emerging controversies, such as whether training AI on copyrighted works constitutes infringement because courts have not yet developed settled law in those areas. However, the Restatement’s detailed articulation of fair use and secondary liability provides a road map of many of the principles that will be important in analyzing such questions.”
Now that we have the Restatement, what happens next?
“Of course, the Restatement of Copyright is not the final word on copyright law. We expect that Congress will continue to amend the law, and courts’ interpretation of the law will evolve as well. We also know that the legal world is facing new and difficult questions—about generative AI, about online platforms, about the nature of authorship in the digital age. The Restatement doesn’t offer final answers to these questions (because in many cases, the courts haven’t yet grappled with them). But we believe it offers a solid foundation for reasoning through them. That’s what Restatements are for: to make the law as it exists more visible and more usable, and thereby better—for lawyers, judges, and the people whose lives are impacted by the law.”
