Alex Goldman
Alex Goldman is a producer for On the Media. One time he got run over by a car.
Everything is a Remix Episode 4
Friday, February 17, 2012 - 04:28 PM
Way back when we re-launched our website in July of this year, we did a Q&A with director Kirby Ferguson. Ferguson has been working on an ongoing series of videos called Everything is a Remix, about the culture of remixing that permeates just about every creative endeavor out there. Ferguson uses a couple of very famous examples (Star Wars, the ouvre of Quentin Tarantino, the innovations in the graphical interfaces in modern computing) to demonstrate that innovation is at least partly appropriation.
Ferguson's latest episode of Everything is a Remix is now out, and given the recent debates about anti-piracy/pro-intellectual property bills in congress like SOPA and PIPA, it's timely. In this episode, Ferguson explores the history of copyright law a body of laws that he sees as "transformed beyond recognition." It's interesting, well researched, and visually delightful. You can check out the first three episodes at Ferguson's website.
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Comments [2]
Please see the Copyright Office guidance on what is and is not protected by copyright. "Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include among others: ...ideas."
In other words, contrary to what is stated in this video, ideas are not protected by copyright. Copyright protects the expression of an idea, the tangible product. This is an important distinction because the video implies that ideas are somehow legally protected and that copyright restricts us from having ideas.
Also, the assertion that most of us are ok with copying is false. Where is the information to back up that assertion? I, for one, am not ok with it.
Artists need some protection to ensure that others won't take credit for or make money from their work. This makes for sometimes inconvenient ethical and legal questions and sometimes produces lawsuits and legal battles, as noted in the video. However, I'm not sure what the author of the video is advocating for instead.
Great stuff
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