It’s not every day that I recommend readers devour every single line of a written work authored by someone other than myself (I’m smiling while writing that), but I strongly recommend doing so with Andrew Zolli’s “My Turn” column in Newsweek titled “The Future Won’t Be Free.” In fact, print it out, paste it on [...]

The Property Rights Alliance (PRA) has outdone itself with the 2010 International Property Rights Index (IPRI) Report, which once again highlights the close coordination of strong rule of law and physical and intellectual property rights in a nation’s economic success. The latest data shows those countries in the top quintile on those yardsticks have an [...]

I’d like to begin by giving a shoutout to the King of Norway. Then I’ll explain why we at the Copyright Alliance are all about the word “go.”
It turns out the King is dropping by the Vancouver Olympics today to watch his nation’s curling team compete in the semifinals. He also wants to wear a [...]

It would seem that Helene Hegemann is a talented, creative young woman. One wonders what sort of fiction she could have created had she simply “stood on the shoulders of giants” and written an original work inspired by past literary giants. Instead, she decided to cut and paste pages of published literary works and pass [...]

While snowbound this week I read some pieces in The Washington Post about condescension. The first author wrote a piece titled “Why are liberals so condescending?” He maintained that liberals are “committed to the proposition that their views are correct, self-evident, and based on fact and reason, while conservative positions are not just wrong but [...]

The national nonprofit dedicated to advancing the arts in the United States, Americans for the Arts, released today the National Arts Index by Roland J. Kushner and Randy Cohen, a report that analyzes the health and vitality of the arts and culture in the United States. It looks at 76 national-level indicators of artistic and [...]

As an exhibitor, preparing for a convention reminds me much of being in theatre. (At least the experiences I’ve had with high school and community theatre.) The day before the opening, there are a lot of moving pieces. The convention hall is chaotic, booths are half constructed, cargo trucks come and go, and a lot [...]

This has been a good week for artists speaking out for their rights. I highlighted earlier this week a number of independent artists on an indie label who spoke out against infringement of their creative works. There have been other positive voices as well, nicely summarized by my friend Chris Castle on his blog.
One voice [...]

A friend made a comment to me, though somewhat in jest, that she thought I was too “organized” and “level-headed” to be an artist. I brushed off the remark; she has seen some of my paintings – and likes them – so I know it wasn’t a statement about the quality of my work. I [...]

On a panel discussion on copyright on Monday, I noted how in 1995 — when few folks had heard of the Internet and they probably thought it meant the walled garden of AOL — I had my own web site, where I posted for free and distributed to a fan list full text of a [...]