Copy Grounds

Paul Goldstein is the Stella W. and Ira S. Lillick Professor of Law at Stanford University. He is a renowned expert on intellectual property law and the author of numerous books on U.S. and international copyright law. This semester we read selections from Professor Goldstein’s book Copyright’s Highway: From Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox. Paul was gracious enough to answer some of our students’ questions and we are happy to present his responses here.

Copygrounds: It seems that contemporary services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Prime, Gamefly, Pandora, etc. closely resemble your concept of the celestial jukebox. Would that be your assessment as well? Which do you think is the most advantageous payment structure? Advertisement-supported, pay per view, or flat rate pricing?

Paul Goldstein: Although, obviously, I had no specific service in mind when I started writing about the celestial jukebox in the 1980s, the services you identify certainly fit the general outlines that I sketched. I find it interesting that the payment structures you mention all appear to involve streaming, rather than downloading. Although streaming seems to be the currently popular business model, I wouldn’t write off downloads of the iTunes variety, at least in certain sectors. And, as to payment models, my best guess is that we will continue to seea mix of the three you identify, and possibly more. In any event, the market’s wisdom on what is the best payment method for different kinds of uses is a heck of a lot smarter than mine. continue reading…

This semester we read selections from one of my favorite books on the pitfalls of theorizing of intellectual property–James Boyle’s Shamans, Software, & Spleens: Law and the Construction of the Information Society. Drawing on examples from a diverse range of topics including genetics, fiduciary trust, and artificial intelligence, Boyle demonstrates how classical liberal theory attempts to resolve the tensions between public and private spheres through an appeal to romantic notions of authorship. James Boyle is currently the William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law and the co-founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School. We were delighted to have him answer a handful of student questions and his responses are featured here.

Copygrounds: Do you think contemporary technological developments and social practices have devalued the notion of individual authorship to a significant degree? That is to say, does the emergence of the Internet, “remix culture”, file-sharing, and other collaborative systems signal a departure from romantic notions of authorship? continue reading…

On October 24 Craig Aaron, president of Free Press, was in Austin to talk about how to create a more democratic media. Free Press is the largest media reform organization in the United States and promotes independent media ownership, pubic media, quality journalism, and universal access to communications. Copygrounds caught up with Craig at 5604 Manor in an event sponsored in part by Third Coast Activist. My thanks to student Kevin Dillon for video-recording this event. We are delighted to present this speech for you here.

Adrian Johns’s Piracy: The intellectual property wars from Gutenberg to Gates goes a long way toward contextualizing contemporary legal battles over copyright in the digital age. His research provides us with a detailed and insightful history of the debates surrounding intellectual property. Adrian’s work has been invaluable to my own understanding of the relationship between technological development and intellectual property law. We were very fortunate this semester to have Adrian answer a handful of student questions after having read a selection from his book.

Copygrounds: Do you feel there is too much emphasis on economic incentive in contemporary U.S. copyright law? When it comes to the topic of how to reform copyright law a major concern among the students in this class (many of whom are aspiring filmmakers, artists, and game designers) is the potential loss of control over their work and their ability to profit from it. Does the expansive scope and duration of existing copyright protection serve the interests of our aspiring content producers?

Adrian Johns: In some ways there is clearly too much emphasis on economic incentive in the current legal structure – although one could also argue, I think convincingly, that the problem is not over-emphasis as simply a mistaken notion of where the incentive lies. The grossest example is the Sonny Bono Act, which extended the term of copyright protection and attracted the unsuccessful challenge of Eldred vs. Ashcroft. continue reading…

Along with aspiring filmmakers our class is also home to a growing number of ambitious video game producers. We have lots of fun each semester learning the ins and outs of 3D modeling. But we also spend considerable time learning about the video game industry itself. This semester we read a portion of Greig de Peuter’s and Nick Dyer-Witheford’s Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the field of game studies. The authors’ work is grounded by the concept of immaterial labor—a reoccurring concept in our class. This book insightfully explores video games through a cultural, social, and economic lens. We are honored to have Greig de Peuter respond to some of our questions below.

Copygrounds: Is there something substantially different about the immaterial labor associated with video games as compared to radio/television? Much has been made out of the passive nature of the engagement with these latter technologies, but isn’t the process of interpretation or the creation of meaning similar for both? Or more broadly, do you see continuity or a significant break in the transition from so-called ‘industrial labor’ to ‘post-industrial labor’?

Greig de Peuter: A short answer is that there are continuities and discontinuities. As students in the course know, there’s a tradition of reception studies that’s challenged simplistic assumptions of audience passivity and emphasized the active agency of mass media audiences in the meaning-making process. Even so, it wasn’t unusual for early game-studies scholars to herald the interactivity of computer and video games as a democratizing advance over the viewer or listener’s position within one-to-many broadcast media—an exercise in contrast that obscures continuities like corporate ownership structures and marketing-led content design and so on. Looking back, early celebratory perspectives on interactive entertainment might be read as rehearsing some of the ideas later associated with the rhetoric of user empowerment now surrounding Web 2.0. continue reading…

This semester we had the privilege of speaking with former Screen Actors Guild President (1995-1999) Richard Masur. Our conversation touched on a wide range of topics including the history of Hollywood unions, working conditions in the motion picture and television industries, intellectual property and digital theft, the erosion of union protections, and the global dimension of labor economics in the entertainment industry. We really enjoyed this discussion and were very pleased to have the opportunity to engage with an institution as distinguished as Screen Actors Guild. Below is a transcript of the proceedings in their entirety. Many thanks to Richard Masur and Nancy Fox of Screen Actors Guild for taking the time to speak with us.

Interview with Richard Masur

Interviewer:       Brett Caraway

Interviewee:      Richard Masur

Date:                  April 20, 2011

Brett: Today we are really excited about having Richard Masur join us. He has been an actor in television and motion pictures all the way back to the 1970s, a very prolific television and motion picture actor. I have a long list of things to say about your performances. You’ve been featured in All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H, Hawaii Five-O, Happy Days, One Day at a Time…

Richard: Brett you don’t have to do this for me and I’m sure every single one of them can access IMDB and they can do it for themselves.

Brett: The one thing I do have to pay some homage to is that he was in The Thing, which as I’ve told you all is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Richard: Well I’m glad you enjoyed it. (laughter) continue reading…

Last February Copygrounds attended a lecture at MonkeyWrench Books given by Robert Jensen on the context and impact of the American Dream. In addition to being a Professor in our Journalism Department here at the University of Texas at Austin, Robert Jensen is the author of a number of books including Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity, Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity, and All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice. In this talk Professor Jensen addresses the need to fundamentally change our conceptualization of the American Dream so that we may stave off social, economic and ecological collapse.

Robert Jensen from copygrounds on Vimeo.

We recently had the chance to catch a great lecture by economist James Galbraith sponsored by Third Coast Activist. Galbraith is an economist in our LBJ School of Public Affairs here at UT. He is also a regular writer for well-known publications like Mother Jones, The Texas Observer, The American Prospect, and The Nation.

Unfortunately, I goofed the audio feed so the sound quality is horrible. However, the speech is great so I decided to post it anyway. Headphone users beware, there are a couple of volume spikes during the applause.

James Galbraith from copygrounds on Vimeo.

Jessica Litman’s book, Digital Copyright, was among the first books I read on the subject of intellectual property. Her book provides a fascinating history and critique of the process of drafting copyright legislation in the United States. I consider it a must-read for anyone seeking to familiarize themselves with U.S. copyright law and the challenges presented by recent technological developments. So I was very pleased when Professor Litman agreed to answer some of our questions. This semester we are reading her article entitled Creative Reading. Professor Litman is currently  the John F. Nickoll Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. She is an expert on copyright and we are privileged to have her join our discussion.

Copygrounds: What is the road to copyright reform? In other words, is a statutory reversal of either the expanded duration or scope of copyright even possible? Or conversely, would it be possible to expand fair use provisions through an amendment to the Copyright Act?

Jessica Litman: I think the most plausible road to copyright reform is that the current beneficiaries will seek reform of provisions they are finding unworkable, and proponents of countervailing reforms will take the opportunity to attach their proposals to the legislation.  Thus, Congress enacted the provision allowing bars and restaurants to play radio and television without licenses from ASCAP and continue reading…

Copygrounds partnered with Third Coast Activist recently to bring you this amazing speech by Robert McChesney recorded on February 6, 2011 here in Austin, Texas. Robert is one of the leading scholars of mass media and an ardent critic of the commercial media system.

a Last Sunday special event presents Robert McChesney from Copygrounds on Vimeo.