Arizona State Law Journal is previewing its upcoming articles in the spring publication. This article is written by third-year student, Melissa Bogden.
Fixing Fixation: The Ram Copy Doctrine explores what it means for a copy to be sufficiently “fixed” to a constitute a “copy” within the meaning of the Copyright Act in the Digital Age. Particularly, are temporary copies created in RAMalways sufficiently fixed to constitute infringing copies under the Copyright Act? This Comment questions how courts, administrative agencies, and scholars have interpreted the Ram Copy Doctrine over the last two decades to reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of early Supreme Court precedent. Drawing on recent court decisions from the Fourth Circuit and Second Circuit Courts of Appeals, this Comment reinterprets the Ram Copy Doctrine and crafts a standard that balances the need for protection of digital works against the public’s interest in access.