Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity

This timely and wide-ranging book is useful on at least two levels. First, it rehearses some of the major steps and missteps that have brought us to where we are in the realm of copyright and intellectual property. Second, the book demonstrates explicitly some of the perils of the current legal framework.Vaidhyanathan sets out his own objectives thus:"This book has three goals. The first is to trace the development of American copyright law though the twentieth century. . . . The second goal is to succinctly and clearly outline the principles of copyright while describing the alarming erosion of the notion that copyright should protect specific expressions but not the ideas that lie beneath the expressions. The third and most important purpose of this book is to argue that American culture and politics would function better under a system that guarantees `thin' copyright protection -- just enough protection to encourage creativity, yet limited so that emerging artists, scholars, writers, and students can enjoy a right public domain and broad `fair use' of copyrighted material."I believe that he succeeds on these terms. Even better, the book is very well written as prose, which we'd expect from a creative academic with long experience in print journalism. (The book is also full of fascinating tidbits. Did you know that Samuel Clemens would spend a weekend in Canada to register each of his books there? He did it to fortify his copyright protection throughout the Commonwealth.)The chapters proceed more or less chronologically as Vaidhyanathan moves from early conceptions of copyright; through the careers of Mark Twain and D. W. Griffith as key users and developers of evolving notions of copyright; through the development of the modern recording industry, and its tangles with rap music in the past 25 years; and on into what I might call the copyright-command-and-control battles of the Internet era.Along the way, he shows how we moved away from an older ideal of "thin" copyrights towards the modern regime of "thick" ones. In particular, he's strong in making the case that copyrights used to be -- and should be still -- the legal codification of a sort of utilitarian policy bargain. Vaidhyanathan drives home this interpretation time and again:"Significantly, the founders, whether enamored of the virtuous potential of copyright as Washington was, enchanted by the machinery of incentive as Madison was, or alarmed by the threat of concentrated power as Jefferson was, did not argue for copyrights or patents as `property.' Copyright was a matter of policy, of a bargain among the state, its authors, and its citizens." (page 23)"The law [the first American copyright statute, enacted in Connecticut in 1783] also required that the author `furnish the Public with sufficient Editions,' such that an author could not benefit from the protection of the law while restricting access to his work. Such a balance, a tradeoff, between public good and private

I read this book as part of my research for a paper on the history of copyright policy. I found Vaidhyanathan to be both well-informed and a good writer. Unlike many resources on this topic, Copyrights and Copywrongs was quite interesting to read. Vaidhyanathan's book is both insightful and entertaining. If you've ever wondered how in the world something like Copyright policy could be interesting or relevant, you should pick up this book. Once you do, you'll almost certainly keep reading until you've reached the end. If you want to learn about the history of Copyright policy and how it affects you, you should definitely read this book. ...

If you live or work or play in cyberspace, you need to read this book. If you care about art, literature, music or culture, you need to read this book. If you believe in democracy, you need to read this book.This book is the best introduction to the history of the 'copyright cartel' that is quickly and quietly turning us into a 'pay per thought' society.

I really enjoyed this book, not least because I am an academic and feel quite strongly about the importance of access to information. The public's rights to fair use of material for research, teaching, criticism, etc. are being infringed upon or ignored, and Vaidhyanathan does a fine job of explaining where those rights came from, how they have changed over the past hundred years or so, and the reasons why they are now in danger. Many current ideas about intellectual property do indeed threaten creativity. I enjoyed particularly the section on sampling in rap music, as well as the author's discussion of current efforts by large companies and organizations to exact payment for viewing any and all "content" (including scientific information, news, and other data that should not fall under copyright). Vaidhyanathan's discussion of the history of copyright law before the twentieth century was not as good as the rest of his analysis; I thought that the English precidents in the eighteenth century and earlier could have been explained a little more fully. However, over all, this was an engaging and informative book.

I am not sure how I found this book - but I am glad that I did. In about 200 pages Professor Vaidhyananathan presents a very readable history of the copyright in the US and abroad. Originally added to the Constitution to encourage creativity and to improve the democratic process, the copyright has evolved into a series of complex rules that seem to work almost in the opposite direction of the original intent. Have you ever wondered how Mark Twain and Groucho Marx figured into the discussion of copyright issues? If so you can find out in this book - they both had very interesting roles. What about the diversity of legal opinions - from Lawrence Lessig, to the Ninth Circuit, to Mr. Justice Hand - all of who grappled with the rights of the few versus the rights of the many.Added to the history is an intelligent and readable discussion of the policy issues related to the copyright. What kinds of policies will balance the creator's incentives and at the same time improve the level of public discussions? How long should rights survive? What elements should be included in the copyright? What are the reasonable standards for parody? Should there be differing standards for databases, books, movies, music and computer programs? The risk for all of those questions is that they can evolve into hopeless discussions of legal absurdities. In effect, that is what happened with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.But Vaidhyananathan does not let himself get stuck in all that goo - he deals with each of those issues and more in a concise and interesting fashion. At the same time he has the larger picture of the broader purposes of copyright.You will be challenged and fascinated by this book and the issues it raises.