Bound by Law?: Tales from the Public Domain, New Expanded Edition (Paperback)

by Keith Aoki (Author), James Boyle (Author), Jennifer Jenkins (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This wonderful, funny, and clever comic makes a very complex issue simple... I keep a copy in my desk." Davis Guggenheim, Oscar-winning director of the documentary An Inconvenient Truth "An indispensable guide for the perplexed (ain't we all!) in this postmodern information age." Art Spiegelman, Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book artist "A knockout comic book about fair use and filmmaking. Bound by Law? riffs expertly on classic comic styles, from the Crypt Keeper to Mad Magazine, superheroes to Understanding Comics, and lays out a sparkling, witty, moving and informative story about how the eroded public domain has made documentary filmmaking into a minefield." Cory Doctorow, co-editor of the blog BoingBoing.net "Bound by Law? stars Akiko, a curvaceous, muscular filmmaker (think Tomb Raider's Lara Croft with spiky hair) planning to shoot a documentary about a day in the life of New York City... [It] translates law into plain English and abstract ideas into 'visual metaphors.' So the comic's heroine, Akiko, brandishes a laser gun as she fends off a cyclopean 'Rights Monster'--all the while learning copyright law basics, including the line between fair use and copyright infringement."Brandt Goldstein, The Wall Street Journal online

Product Description
A documentary is being filmed. A cell phone rings, playing the Rocky theme song. The filmmaker is told she must pay $10,000 to clear the rights to the song. Can this be true? Eyes on the Prize, the great civil rights documentary, was pulled from circulation because the filmmakers' rights to music and footage had expired. What's going on here? It's the collision of documentary filmmaking and intellectual property law, and it's the inspiration for this comic book. Follow its heroine Akiko as she films her documentary and navigates the twists and turns of intellectual property. Why do we have copyrights? What's "fair use"? Bound by Law? reaches beyond documentary film to provide a commentary on the most pressing issues facing law, art, property, and an increasingly digital world of remixed culture.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press; New Expanded Ed edition (July 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822344181
• ISBN-13: 978-0822344186
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #662,942 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)