Copyrighting Stage Directions & the Constitutional Mandate to "Promote the Progress of Science.".

The article examines the issue of copyrighting stage directions under the rubric of the 1976 Federal Copyright Act, and whether granting the copyright fulfill the constitutional aims of copyright protection in the U.S. It aims to determine the import of the progress clause in the Act on the question of whether a work merits copyright protection. According to the author, the issue of copyrighting stage directions affects the economic livelihood and artistic worth of playwrights. She concludes that bestowing copyright protection to stage directions will not promote the progress of science.