• copyright
• idiocy
• madness

J.D. Salinger apparently owns Holden Caulfield. A U.S. federal judge has barred publication and distribution of a recent novel by a Swedish author that tells the story of a 76 year-old Caulfield.

It's bad enough that J.D. Salinger and his team of lawyers can exert complete control over his works until 70 years after he's dead. But regardless of the important strides of the Free Culture movement (free as in free speech...not free beer), things seem to continue down the path of idiocy. Under the "logic" of current copyright law, Wide Sargasso Sea or The Hours might be considered illegal.

• Jim Brown's blog
• 1 comment
• Read more

• copyright
• political rhetoric

Recently, the McCain campaign asked YouTube to stop taking down content due to copyright concerns:

The letter opens by talking about how important YouTube has been for the campaign's efforts to get out copies of commercials, speeches, etc., but notes that the site's usefulness is being curtailed by "overreaching copyright claims."

YouTube's response? Due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, YouTube has to take down such content to avoid lawsuits. Want to know who voted for the DMCA? That one.

• Jim Brown's blog
• Login or register to post comments

• copyright
• intellectual property

In a recent piece in the New York Times, Mark Halpern Helprin argues for perpetual copyright. Halpern Helprin's complaint:

"Were I tomorrow to write the great American novel (again?), 70 years after my death the rights to it, though taxed at inheritance, would be stripped from my children and grandchildren."

Lawrence Lessig has apparently been inundated with requests that he write a reply. It would, after all, make complete sense for Lessig to respond - he has made a career of debunking arguments like Halpern Helprin's. However, in typical Lessig fashion, he has decided to invite others to write a response by creating an "Against perpetual copyright" wiki.

• Jim Brown's blog
• 3 comments