Issues & questions that
Joe Clark’s upcoming book on copyright for creators will address
Sticking it to the Man vs. sticking it to a man
Let’s distinguish between corporate copyright and personal copyright. Copyleft is all about destroying corporate copyright to encourage personal “creativity.” But personal copyright is collateral damage under this régime.
Questions you could answer for me real quick
- If you want to do something with a corporation’s work, should the law be changed so the corporation cannot sue you?
- In that case, should you be able to do that very same thing to an individual’s work without permission?
- Should the law covering your intended usage be different if the creator is a corporation vs. an individual person?
Other issues
- To copyleftists, the original work of art does not matter. All that matters is what other people do to it. Your work has no meaning or value until it’s been remixed, but the remix only has value if people recognize your original work. Is this not a destruction of the institutional and cultural memory that remix culture is supposed to foster?
- To become famous enough to remix, why do creators have to give up their rights?
- Creator ≠ copyright holder; copyleftists object to the actions of corporate copyright holders, not individual creators, but their proposed remedies apply to both groups indistinguishably.
- Treats artworks as cultural objects floating in the ether instead of works created by actual people.