Neil Boorstyn says the courts have mangled and misquoted a copyright statute for the past 18 years — and he’s on a mission to stop the madness.

“Some clerk, years ago, obviously got this statute all twisted up,” said Boorstyn, 75, a veteran copyright lawyer and of counsel at Bingham McCutchen in San Francisco. “What’s happening is that nobody is going back to read the statute and the error is getting perpetuated over and over again.”