Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and how it Threatens Creativity

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NYU Press, 2003 - 255 lappuses

An in-depth look at American copyright law and the flaws of its current legal framework

Copyright reflects far more than economic interests. Embedded within conflicts over royalties and infringement are cultural values—about race, class, access, ownership, free speech, and democracy—which influence how rights are determined and enforced. Questions of legitimacy—of what constitutes “intellectual property” or “fair use,” and of how to locate a precise moment of cultural creation—have become enormously complicated in recent years, as advances in technology have exponentially increased the speed of cultural reproduction and dissemination.

In Copyrights and Copywrongs, Siva Vaidhyanathan tracks the history of American copyright law through the 20th century, from Mark Twain’s vehement exhortations for “thick” copyright protection, to recent lawsuits regarding sampling in rap music and the “digital moment,” exemplified by the rise of Napster and MP3 technology. He argues persuasively that in its current punitive, highly restrictive form, American copyright law hinders cultural production, thereby contributing to the poverty of civic culture.

In addition to choking cultural expression, recent copyright law, Vaidhyanathan argues, effectively sanctions biases against cultural traditions which differ from the Anglo-European model. In African-based cultures, borrowing from and building upon earlier cultural expressions is not considered a legal trespass, but a tribute. Rap and hip hop artists who practice such “borrowing” by sampling and mixing, however, have been sued for copyright violation and forced to pay substantial monetary damages. Similarly, the oral transmission of culture, which has a centuries-old tradition within African American culture, is complicated by current copyright laws. How, for example, can ownership of music, lyrics, or stories which have been passed down through generations be determined? Upon close examination, strict legal guidelines prove insensitive to the diverse forms of cultural expression prevalent in the United States, and reveal much about the racialized cultural values which permeate our system of laws. Ultimately, copyright is a necessary policy that should balance public and private interests but the recent rise of “intellectual property” as a concept have overthrown that balance. Copyright, Vaidhyanathan asserts, is policy, not property.

Bringing to light the republican principles behind original copyright laws as well as present-day imbalances and future possibilities for freer expression and artistic equity, this volume takes important strides towards unraveling the complex web of culture, law, race, and technology in today's global marketplace.

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Saturs

Introduction
1
Copyright and American Culture Ideas Expressions and Democracy
17
Mark Twain and the History of Literary Copyright
35
Celluloid Copyright and Derivative Works Or How to Stop 12 Monkeys with One Chair
81
Hep Cats and Copy Cats American Music Challenges the Copyright Tradition
117
The Digital Moment The End of Copyright?
149
The Summer without Martha Graham
185
Notes
191
Index
231
Afterword
243
About the Author
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Populāri fragmenti

29. lappuse - In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.
30. lappuse - And Cain talked with Abel his brother : and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother ; and slew him.
28. lappuse - And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah ; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
22. lappuse - To the security of a free constitution it contributes in various ways : by convincing those who are intrusted with the public administration, that every valuable end of government is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people...
1. lappuse - And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
106. lappuse - If Twelfth Night were copyrighted, it is quite possible that a second comer might so closely imitate Sir Toby Belch or Malvolio as to infringe, but it would not be enough that for one of his characters he cast a riotous knight who kept wassail to the discomfort of the household, or a vain and foppish steward who became amorous of his mistress. These would be no more than Shakespeare's "ideas...
23. lappuse - If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea ; which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself, but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it.
1. lappuse - The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
95. lappuse - Certainly works are not the less connected with the fine arts because their pictorial quality attracts the crowd, and therefore gives them a real use — if use means to increase trade and to help to make money. A picture is none the less a subject of copyright that it is used for an advertisement.
40. lappuse - An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies of printed Books in the Authors or Purchasers of such Copies during the Times therein mentioned...

Par autoru (2003)

Siva Vaidhyanathan is the Robertson Family Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. His work has appeared on public radio, on CNN, BBC, and in publications such as The American Scholar, The Columbia Journalism Review, The Nation, The New York Times Magazine, Washington Post BookWorld, Fast Company, The Chronicle of Higher Education, BookForum, and Dissent.

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