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Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity
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.
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.
255 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
12 people are currently reading
495 people want to read
About the author
Siva Vaidhyanathan
15 books60 followersRobertson Family Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia.
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin.
B.A., University of Texas at Austin.
Siva Vaidhyanathan is a cultural historian and media scholar, and is currently a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia. From 1999 through the summer of 2007 he worked in the Department of Culture and Communication at New York University. Vaidhyanathan is a frequent contributor on media and cultural issues in various periodicals including The Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Times Magazine, The Nation, and Salon.com, and he maintains a blog, www.googlizationofeverything.com. He is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio and to MSNBC.COM and has appeared in a segment of "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. Vaidhyanathan is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities and the Institute for the Future of the Book.
In March 2002, Library Journal cited Vaidhyanathan among its "Movers & Shakers" in the library field. In the feature story, Vaidhyanathan lauded librarians for being "on the front lines of copyright battles" and for being "the custodians of our information and cultural commons." In November 2004 the Chronicle of Higher Education called Vaidhyanathan "one of academe's best-known scholars of intellectual property and its role in contemporary culture." He has testified as an expert before the U.S. Copyright Office on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin.
B.A., University of Texas at Austin.
Siva Vaidhyanathan is a cultural historian and media scholar, and is currently a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia. From 1999 through the summer of 2007 he worked in the Department of Culture and Communication at New York University. Vaidhyanathan is a frequent contributor on media and cultural issues in various periodicals including The Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Times Magazine, The Nation, and Salon.com, and he maintains a blog, www.googlizationofeverything.com. He is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio and to MSNBC.COM and has appeared in a segment of "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. Vaidhyanathan is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities and the Institute for the Future of the Book.
In March 2002, Library Journal cited Vaidhyanathan among its "Movers & Shakers" in the library field. In the feature story, Vaidhyanathan lauded librarians for being "on the front lines of copyright battles" and for being "the custodians of our information and cultural commons." In November 2004 the Chronicle of Higher Education called Vaidhyanathan "one of academe's best-known scholars of intellectual property and its role in contemporary culture." He has testified as an expert before the U.S. Copyright Office on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 26, 2011
This was a captivating, important book, which I read as part of my ongoing research into modern copyright law, which now extends into the far corners of everything, transforming culture into commodity, creativity into control, the public domain into a vacant house, the destruction of fair use, and more. This book was helpful because it outlines the growth of copyright law from "Bloody" Mary Tudor all the way down beyond the Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, and shows how copyright was originally a temporary government-granted monopoly on ideas for the benefit of the publisher of creative work, and how it has been transformed into a "moral rights" issue. Where the first copyrights were there to penalize publishers and not the public, now copyright has essentially criminalize everything, including the public. A scholarly, and not popular account, highly recommended on a very important subject.
February 29, 2012
Though at times a bit dry and repetitive, Vaidhyanathan's book surveys the history and development of copyright law and points out the gross lengths by which it has deviated from the original intent. Though he offers few solutions or even concrete suggestions, Vaidhyanathan writes compellingly and passionately, pulling examples from many of the creative arts.
April 11, 2019
Although the author has a somewhat different view of intellectual property rights than I do, arguing for thin copyright protection where I would support a labor-based view of property rights that would include rights for those who labor to make subsidiary creations based on the creations of others, there is a broad deal of overlap and I was able to greatly enjoy this book and share the author's concerns that many corporate intellectual property holders have a rentier mentality and seek to gain perpetual copyright on their property to avoid adding to what is in the public domain. Given the fact that the author and I have similar concerns, this book was refreshing in the way that it looked at the history of law involving creations and their legal protection, pointing out the balance of concerns between allowing for some profit to original creators while also increasing what is in the public sphere to allow for the further creativity of others in such diverse areas as low-cost classic books for readers and sampling rights for rap musicians to signify over, all matters that have been threatened due to the decline of the public space of community that has taken place since the beginning of the 20th century.
This short book of about 200 pages is divided into five chapters and provides a history of copyright law as well as a rallying cry for those who are opposed to its abuse by the heirs and corporate holders of rights that originally belonged to creators. After acknowledgments and an introduction, the author begins with a look at copyright and American culture and the issues of ideas, expressions, and democracy (1). After this the author moves to a discussion of Mark Twain and his complex views on literary copyrights over the course of his career and his largely European perspective as he got older and more copyright-rich (2). After that the author moves to questions of copyright and derivative works and their lack of current protection, which demonstrates how a single chair was capable of delaying the release of the film 12 Monkeys and how Nabokov's son was able to fight the release of Lo's Diary (3). The author then turns his attention to jazz and rap and the problem of copyright as it relates to music, spending a great deal of time examining self-plagiarism as well as sampling issues (4). The book then ends with a chapter on the digital moment and its threat to copyrights (5) as well as the summer without Martha Graham that resulted from disputes over the ownership of her choreography.
Overall there is a great deal to celebrate about this particular book, not least the way that the author is able to wrestle with questions about the value that is gained to a society when existing creations can be reconceptualized and used as the foundation for the creativity of others. The author also shows the striking difference in behavior among many people (and companies) from when they are copyright poor, seeking to exploit that which is in the public domain that can be freely used and adapted, and when they are copyright rich seeking to protect the income that comes from their precious "property." Crucially, the author argues that viewing copyrights as signifying intellectual property at all is mistaken because a copyright amounts to a government-offered privilege for a temporary monopoly of profits off of one's creations as a way of spurring creation rather than punishing downstream or derivative works that require the monopoly be temporary, something that is being increasingly threatened by the behavior of the contemporary rentier class.
This short book of about 200 pages is divided into five chapters and provides a history of copyright law as well as a rallying cry for those who are opposed to its abuse by the heirs and corporate holders of rights that originally belonged to creators. After acknowledgments and an introduction, the author begins with a look at copyright and American culture and the issues of ideas, expressions, and democracy (1). After this the author moves to a discussion of Mark Twain and his complex views on literary copyrights over the course of his career and his largely European perspective as he got older and more copyright-rich (2). After that the author moves to questions of copyright and derivative works and their lack of current protection, which demonstrates how a single chair was capable of delaying the release of the film 12 Monkeys and how Nabokov's son was able to fight the release of Lo's Diary (3). The author then turns his attention to jazz and rap and the problem of copyright as it relates to music, spending a great deal of time examining self-plagiarism as well as sampling issues (4). The book then ends with a chapter on the digital moment and its threat to copyrights (5) as well as the summer without Martha Graham that resulted from disputes over the ownership of her choreography.
Overall there is a great deal to celebrate about this particular book, not least the way that the author is able to wrestle with questions about the value that is gained to a society when existing creations can be reconceptualized and used as the foundation for the creativity of others. The author also shows the striking difference in behavior among many people (and companies) from when they are copyright poor, seeking to exploit that which is in the public domain that can be freely used and adapted, and when they are copyright rich seeking to protect the income that comes from their precious "property." Crucially, the author argues that viewing copyrights as signifying intellectual property at all is mistaken because a copyright amounts to a government-offered privilege for a temporary monopoly of profits off of one's creations as a way of spurring creation rather than punishing downstream or derivative works that require the monopoly be temporary, something that is being increasingly threatened by the behavior of the contemporary rentier class.
September 9, 2021
I hope I will find it helpfull
July 10, 2010
Interesting history of copyright in the US, with emphasis on the Constitutional directive that it support creativity. I expected to like this book more than I did, as it is cited by a lot of authors I've been reading on the subject. Plus, I already figured I'd agree with his position in the debate on IP law. However, the prose is at times repetitive, and for every passage where the author lets personality show through, there seems to be an offsetting, academically-dry passage.
In the end, it is worth reading if you are interested in a short but fairly detailed outline of copyright law in the US. Might want to skip the last bit where the death of copyright is predicted. But the author can't be faulted for that, there have been some fairly big developments in the digital age of copyright since the book was written.
In the end, it is worth reading if you are interested in a short but fairly detailed outline of copyright law in the US. Might want to skip the last bit where the death of copyright is predicted. But the author can't be faulted for that, there have been some fairly big developments in the digital age of copyright since the book was written.
April 7, 2009
A fairly good overview of the history of copyright arguments in the U.S. including precedents upon which they have been based. Things start falling apart in the final chapter on the digital age, but in part, that is because the book needs to be updated to reflect some of what has happened since its publication. In spite of the argument to the contrary that the author makes, CD sales are actually much lower now than they used to be, for instance. It is not at all clear that the evidence and histories the book presents support its underlying premise across the board. It makes a decent if incomplete case though. And whereas I am fairly well versed in the situations of the past decade, I was completely unaware of the goings-on in the 19th and early 20th-Centuries.
May 12, 2007
this book is a really interesting exploration of the history of copyright law. From literature, to film to music in America, including Led Zepplin stealing from blues singers to Hip Hop artists like Spoonie G and Biz Markie sampling, this book breaks down how corporations have manipulated the gov't and legislation to expanding the rights of content producers from an original copyright of 14 years + a 14 year option, to the current law: life of creator + 70 years. It's cool too cause it's got a turntable on the cover.
June 11, 2013
As a writer of a continuing series of archival and historical information that will never be published for public use, it is interesting to learn of so much of copyright law has stymied creativity where it could lead to the need to backpedal on what seems to be corporate control and legislative overreach.
July 15, 2009
I learned more from this book than I thought possible. It touches just the right balance between technical detail and readability. Since the subject matter is complex, it is a bit dense, but the payoff of what you get out of it is worth it.
June 3, 2007
good intro to copyright law - a bit dry for casual reading but the author has that "favorite professor" wry yet energetic take on the material
October 21, 2007
I wrote a review of this for RCCS a while back. (seems like another life now...)
June 2, 2008
Full of info and whatever. Not entirely thrilling
April 15, 2009
Fairly basic from my perspective, but a good introduction for someone who hasn't studied copyright law.
December 18, 2015
Interesting take on copyright for the 21st century lots of food for thought.
June 9, 2015
A book that explains why have copyrights laws set in place (Copyrights), and how they have been distorted in the US to actually disincentive creative enterprise (Copywrongs)
February 17, 2011
Very thought-provoking!
April 27, 2017
Read this for one of my continuing education classes at the recommendation of the professor. While there were a lot of excellent cases regarding copyright laws and how to utilize copyright, I guess I was expecting something else out of it. It didn't really expand on the ideas of the class the way the professor made it seem like they would.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews