Building on my last post, which focused on the “exclusive right” granted by the first U.S. Congress to authors and inventors, as guided by the U.S. Constitution, let me address briefly the rights that users of creative works often claim for themselves. I am an avid consumer of creative works myself, and understand that it’s [...]

One of the wonderful things about the U.S. Constitution is that it gives lawmakers and judges discretion in application of law. Even strict constructionists have to admit that their interpretation of original intent is in fact an interpretation. I mention this to address the varying interpretations of the Progress Clause — the origin of current [...]

Is our so-called “remix culture” really a new Renaissance of learning and cultural progress? Certain thinkers such as Lawrence Lessig and Yochai Benkler knock vigorously on that door but are wise enough not to walk through. Plenty of bloggers and blog commenters, however, show no fear in ecstatically breaking through that thought barrier. In this [...]

Rapid advances in technology have been occurring since the Renaissance, and yet sometimes the greatest advocates of advancement fail to predict where science will go. In the 19th Century Lord Kelvin was a father of modern physics, identifying absolute zero, naming kinetic energy, and setting in motion the identification of the second law of thermodynamics. [...]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today, at a press conference at the Commerce Department, cited copyright industries as the “critical drivers” of economic growth, jobs and trade, while endorsing the latest study by the International Intellectual Property Alliance and economist Stephen E. Siwek, “Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy: The 2003 – 2007 [...]

Wired Editor Chris Anderson spoke at Google’s D.C. office this morning about his book Free, which hit the bookstores today and is not free. He is allowing a free “download” of the book on Scribd but apparently won’t let you print it out, so have fun reading it on your computer screen. My feelings on [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

The important role of artists in the copyright debates was emphasized more than once at the World Copyright Summit. Without a doubt, there was agreement that if artists did not create and share those creations with the general public, then most everyone at that conference would be out of a job. Except the artists, of [...]