Academic

Legal Theory Bookworm

By Lawrence Solum

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Copyright's Paradox by Neil Weinstock Netanel.  Here is a description:

The United States Supreme Court famously labeled copyright "the engine of free expression" because it provides a vital economic incentive for much of the literature, commentary, music, art, and film that makes up our public discourse. Yet today's copyright law also does the opposite--it is often used to quash news reporting, political commentary, church dissent, historical scholarship, cultural critique, and artistic expression.

In Copyright's Paradox, Neil Weinstock Netanel explores the tensions between copyright law and free speech, revealing how copyright can impose unacceptable burdens on expression. Netanel provides concrete illustrations of how copyright often prevents speakers from effectively conveying their message, tracing this conflict across both traditional and digital media and considering current controversies such as the remix and copying culture rampant on YouTube and MySpace, hip-hop music and digital sampling, and the Google Book Search litigation. The author juxtaposes the dramatic expansion of copyright holders' proprietary control against the individual's newly found ability to digitally cut, paste, edit, remix, and distribute sound recordings, movies, TV programs, graphics, and texts the world over. He tests whether, in light of these developments and others, copyright still serves as a vital engine of free expression and he assesses how copyright does--and does not--burden speech. Taking First Amendment values as his lodestar, Netanel argues that copyright should be limited to how it can best promote robust debate and expressive diversity, and he presents a blueprint for how that can be accomplished.

Copyright and free speech will always stand in some tension. But there are ways in which copyright can continue to serve as an engine of free expression while leaving ample room for speakers to build on copyrighted works to convey their message, express their personal commitments, and create new art. This book shows us how.

And from the reviews:

"If there is anyone who doesn't yet see how copyright badly done burdens free speech, it is only because they have not read this well-crafted and powerfully argued book."--Lawrence Lessig, author of Free Culture

"Recent controversies over the tensions between copyright and free speech have surfaced in the courts, in the academic literature, and in public and political discourse. It is the virtue of Neil Netanel's fine book that it combines a balanced and comprehensive guide to and analysis of these controversies, while also offering nuanced prescriptions that avoid the unrealistic and extreme positions often taken by those embroiled in the fight over copyright's reach."--Frederick Schauer, author of Free Speech: A Philosophical Enquiry

"Elegantly and clearly, Neil Netanel presents a scholarly middle ground in the copyright debates, avoiding both the misguided conservative view that copyright should be about either economic efficiency or natural rights of property and the copy-left view that no or minimal rights are proper. Instead, Netanel rightly locates a limited acceptance of copyright in its contribution to freedom and especially to democracy."--C. Edwin Baker, author of Media Concentration and Democracy: Why Ownership Matters

"The tension between copyright law and freedom of speech knows no treatment more sophisticated or nuanced than Neil Netanel's. This magnificent book searches the roots of both doctrines, offering a penetrating analysis of how our democratic institutions call for the preservation of traditional copyright and at the same time curtail its more recent 'bloated' manifestations. Highly recommended for devotees of both fields."--David Nimmer, co-author of Nimmer on Copyright

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on May 03, 2008 (boomark / email).