There’s been a lot of fuss recently about the upcoming book, Free, by Wired editor Chris Anderson, largely charges that he plagiarized Wikipedia and apparently much more. Like Jonathan Bailey, I wasn’t sent an advance copy of the book so I don’t feel qualified to comment on those charges.
However, whether plagiarized or not, Anderson’s [...]

The Scottish government recognizes the value that art has for society, especially during times of economic downturn. It has just announced details of a 5 million pound package that is aimed at helping the creative community while the economy is still rough.
These funds stem from a larger vision of developing Creative Scotland by 2010. This [...]

UCLA Law Professor Doug Lichtman has a new essay (posted by The Media Institute) and podcast on a topic that seems obvious on its face: Everyone Hates DRM. That is mostly true, at least from a consumer standpoint. But that doesn’t mean it still isn’t relevant in today’s society, and I Lichtman understands that as [...]

The recent election in Iran has been getting a lot of press coverage lately. News sources have mentioned that opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has embraced Twitter, cell phones, and websites to take action in the election dispute, is also a painter and architect.
Mr. Mousavi is not alone among artists who take their chances [...]

New York, NY
The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) held its annual membership meeting on June 17, 2009 at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Manhattan. The Association, with over 700 members, exists to “Protect, promote, and advance the interests of music‘s creators”.
The small ballroom quickly filled with intellectual property lawyers, publishers and songwriters. The newcomers and [...]

The National Endowment for the Arts released this week research that shows new trends on how American audiences consume and interact with the arts. Arts Participation 2008: Highlights from a National Survey shows findings from the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts.
Some of the findings are consistent with long-established trends of public arts [...]

Today the Senate Commerce Committee voted 24-1 to approve Julius Genachowski as the next Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission; recently Mr. Genachowski gave a very strong statement to that Committee on the importance of copyright enforcement and how he at the FCC would respect the rights of creators.
The full US Senate is expected [...]

Hello everyone, this is Meg the intern blogging away in the Copyright Alliance’s D.C. office. On June 10, the Library of Congress hosted “Herb Block and the Bill of Rights,” a discussion about the legendary editorial cartoonist and his lifetime support for human rights. Block began his prolific career during the Great Depression [...]

My name is Chela Robinson. I am interning at the Copyright Alliance for the summer of 2009. I am a native Washingtonian, with a degree in Music Performance (vocal) from Rutgers University. I have a music business background from interning at Atlantic Records, Interscope Records, and Warner Chappell Music Publishing. I wish to run [...]

Many artists producing works of economic value wish to be paid. Many businesses profiting from others’ creativity would rather not have to pay for that creativity. These are no-brainers that often are overlooked or underplayed in our modern copyright debate.
Today’s Exhibit A is a story in The New York Times about Google reaching out to [...]