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Rosén, Jan --- "Copyright and Freedom of Expression in Sweden – Private Law in a Constitutional Context" [2007] ELECD 306; in Torremans, Paul (ed), "Copyright Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007)

Book Title: Copyright Law

Editor(s): Torremans, Paul

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845424879

Section: Chapter 14

Section Title: Copyright and Freedom of Expression in Sweden – Private Law in a Constitutional Context

Author(s): Rosén, Jan

Number of pages: 18

Extract:

14 Copyright and freedom of expression in
Sweden ­ private law in a constitutional
context
Jan Rosén1



1. Introduction
Copyright and freedom of expression, freedom of speech in American law, are
two legal phenomena with quite a lot in common, but they also carry a built-
in dichotomy. Looking at Swedish law, their common/mutual features are
indicated by the fact that copyright or, rather, authors' rights, had its legal
breakthrough within the framework of constitutionally protected freedom of
expression already in the basic Freedom of the Press Act, forming a part of the
Government Form of 1809.2 Both copyright and freedom of expression, can
also be seen as a common designation of respect for the creative man's need
to express himself, for the individual results of human creativity and the basic
right to express it publicly. The personality rights side of authors' rights, moral
rights or droit moral, also stresses, just like freedom of speech, a respect for
an individual way of exposing thoughts in a literary or artistic form. It is true
to some extent, as some would have it, that copyright is the engine of free
expression.
The conflict is just as overt, as one person's right to express himself must,
per definition, be limited by another person's copyright in the very form
which is used for a public speech. If someone in his public address wants to
expose someone else's expression there is inevitably a conflict between his
right to express ...