Details
- Prescriptive and forward-thinking rather than descriptive and lamenting.
- International in scope, discussing common copyright issues faced in the global arena and not just the U.S.
- Recognizes the power of modern consumerism, making it not only concurrent but relevant.
The arrival of the Internet was revolutionary, and one of the most tumultuous developments that flowed from it--the upending of the relatively settled world of copyright law--has forced us to completely rethink how rights to a work are allocated and how delivery formats affect an originator's claims to the work. Most of the disputes swirling around novel Internet media delivery systems, from Napster to Youtube to the Google Book Project, derive from our views on what constitutes a proper understanding of copyright. Who has the right to a work, and to what extent should we protect a rights holder's ability to derive income from it? Is it right to make copyrighted works free of charge?
One of the central figures in this decade-plus long debate has been William Patry, who is now the lead copyright attorney for Google. In How to Fix Copyright, he offers a concise and pithy set of solutions for improving our increasingly outmoded copyright system. After outlining how we arrived at our current state of dysfunction, Patry offers a series of pragmatic fixes that steer a middle course between an overly expansive interpretation of copyright protection and abandoning it altogether. We have to accept that we cannot force people to buy copyrighted works, but at the same time, we have to enforce laws against counterfeiting. Most importantly, we have to look at the evidence--what furthers creativity yet does not deny protection to those who need it to create? We should also reject the increasingly strident (and, he argues, ill-informed) denunciations of delivery systems: Google Booksearch and DVRs are merely technologies, and are not the problem. Throughout, he stresses that we need to recognize that the consumer is king. Law can only solve legal problems, not business problems, and too often we use law to solve business problems. Practical yet prescriptive, How to Fix Copyright will reshape our understanding of what the real problems actually are and help us navigate through the increasingly complex dilemmas surrounding authorship and rights in our digital age.
Readership: Anyone interested in copyright; artists and creators as well as policymakers.
Introduction
1: Copyright and Creativity: A Brief History
2: The Business of Copyright
3: What Should be Protected, and for How Long
4: The Mechanics of Copyright
5: What is to Be Done? Sensible Futures for Copyright in a Global Market
Conclusion
William Patry is Senior Copyright Counsel at Google Inc. He previously served as copyright counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary; as a Policy Planning Advisor to the U.S. Register of Copyrights; as a law professor; and as a private lawyer. He is the author of the definitive eight volume treatise on copyright law, Patry on Copyright, a separate treatise on the fair use doctrine, Patry on Fair Use which has been in print since 1985, as well as many law review articles, including one with Judge Richard Posner.
"How to Fix Copyright is full of smart, sensible ideas." --The Wall St. Journal
"A book that is incandescent in every sense of the word...How to Fix Copyright is a superbly argued, enraging book on the state of copyright law today." -- Boing Boing
"William Patry, Senior Copyright Counsel at Google and one of America's foremost experts on copyright law, offers an insightful, reasonable series of fixes to our increasingly outmoded copyright system. But perhaps the author's greatest triumph is that he makes his complex subject seem familiar and even entertaining. In well-written, easily digestible sections, Patry puts the complex legal, procedural, and constitutional underpinnings of copyright law in context with the rapidly evolving, tech-fueled lives of creators and users. Insightful, impeccably researched, and prescriptive, Patry's vision of copyright should resonate with today's creators - and infuriate yesterday's media and entertainment conglomerates." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
