Hello, everyone! As I did last week, I'll be diving into a bunch of readings - this time focusing upon American copyright policies! With a bit more time on my hands, I'll provide more in-depth impressions than I did during my last go-round. Alright, let's get to it! So first up is Lunsford et al.'s manifesto on ownership, authorship, and copyright. Overall it presents a pessimistic take on copyright, arguing that creators benefit greatly while the public hardly benefits at all. Key takeaways from this extensive, yet intriguing manifesto:
Next, legal activist and Creative Commons co-founder Lawrence Lessig cites the "Let's Go Crazy"-Stephanie Lenz Supreme Court case - which the aforementioned manifesto also details - to kickstart a more in-depth defense of fair use within the context of user-generated digital works. Check out his Wall Street Journal article, "In Defense of Piracy," below:
Lessig supplements this discussion with a TED talk about "laws that choke creativity." Here he cites John Philip Sousa's critique of talking machines, Thomas Lee and Tinie Causby's futile invocation of trespass law to obstruct aircraft flight, and the public domain-minded Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)'s victory over the licenseholding American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). Before I move on, I'll just say that I thoroughly enjoyed the compilation of user-generated remixes that Lessig includes in his presentation! It relaxed me and almost made me forget that I was working on a homework assignment (emphasis on almost). Then there's a pair of articles from Rockford University's Kyle D. Stedman and Winthrop University's Devon Fitzgerald Ralston. In "Sue for Mario Bros.: Nintendo vs. Emulation," Stedman discusses beloved video game giant Nintendo's recent lawsuits against ROM sites distributing its older and/or less easily attainable games, alongside the ensuing public outcry. As a diehard Nintendo fan, I knew full well of this case and some of the company's other anti-consumer business practices (still love its games, though!). In accordance with Stedman and the rest of the Nintendo community, I'd love to have ready access to older games as we did via services like the Wii's "Virtual Console" about a decade ago - put Game Boy, Nintendo 64, and Gamecube games on the Switch, dang it! - for the sake of historical preservation and pure enjoyment! In "'Cockygate': Trademark Trolling, Romance Novels, and Intellectual Property," Ralston discusses the "Cockygate" trademark conflict among romance enovelists. I must say, Faleena Hopkins's attempted trademark of "cocky" is almost as ridiculous as Ohio State University's attempted trademark of "the!" And yes, I've been using the trademark symbol alongside "Melodramatic Mike Drop" at the end of each blog post jokingly; but these incidents take things just a step too far, diminishing the value of the practice in the first place. Anyway, you can find both articles in the PDF below:
Now, I actually don't have much to say about these last few articles given their more straightforward nature. In "DMCA Notices: Here’s Everything You Need To Know In 2019," Claire Broadley provides a bunch of general info and resources regarding Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices, which protect against copyright infringement - heck, she even includes a DMCA takedown notice generator! This article's a bit shorter than you'd expect upon first glance - it boils down to a ton of pictures, bulleted lists, and short paragraphs - and a worthwhile read for those of us who may need to file a DMCA notice or respond to one. Meanwhile the U.S. Copyright Office's "More Information on Fair Use" concisely defines "fair use" and outlines the relevant criteria from Section 107 of the Copyright Act, namely the "purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes"; the "nature of the copyrighted work"; the "amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole"; and the "effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work." Lastly, we have the Creative Commons Wiki's "Best practices for attribution." But please don't disregard this as "a typical wiki page," for it's surprisingly informative and easily digestible! Also note my consistent implementation of TASL (or TAS, at least): title, author, source, license. That's about all I have for you today, and until next time, I'll leave you with a Melodramatic Mike Drop™!
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