Customer Reviews

The Illustrated Story of Copyright

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If you want to know what it's all about - just what it is that writers, publishers, composers, musicians, sculptors and photographers own - and what use you can make of their work, this is a great place to start.

A lucid survey of the history, and logic of the law of copyright, Samuels' well laid out, and copiously illustrated book is a useful guide for editors, writers, agents, websters, napsters, law students, and even law professors.

The numerous side bars and photos provide stories that illuminate the logic of copyright law. A subject which is in danger of being throttled by technical detail (the Copyright Act is must reading for insomniacs) is made plain here. It's a great introduction and a helpful wrap up for those who know the ropes, but have gotten tangled in the details.

"The Illustrated Story of Copyright" may be the most important book I read this year. It traces history back to duplicating the printed word, and covers presses, copiers, the Internet, and computers. Also covered is Fair Use and Patents. The book is written so that non-professionals and non-students can understand it, yet I believe that it would be an asset to any attorney's office or to any law curriculum.

Others who will enjoy this book are the Mac/Apple fans. "Mac people" are a clan of their own, and those I've met will collect anything with substantial Mac information. The condensed history of how Mac came to be is a worthy addition to a Macintosh library.

Furthermore, "The Illustrated Story of Copyright" should be required reading for all musicians, all VCR owners, all computer owners, all freelancers... the list is endless. I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it, but wish I'd known about it sooner. I doubt that I'll recommend another book to as wide a range of people.

(this book was recommended to me ... then purchased from my amazon.com wishlist.)

Unlike many books on legal issues that are important to non-lawyers, this book strikes a very readable balance between providing useful advice and being something you actually enjoy reading. I would rate this a "must read" for anybody dealing with commercialization of art, photography, writing, data ...

The historic perspective is invaluable for understanding copyrights, and Samuels does a superb job of showing how US law has evolved to meet challenges of evolving technologies and markets.

I look forward to a second edition in a few years as the WWW saga unfolds.

This book gives a short history of copyright, the reasonings behind it, its manifestation, implementation, and enforcement throughout the last 500 years with emphasis on the English-speaking world; i.e. England and now the US. It is written in a style accessible to those without legal training, and serves as a good introduction to this aspect of intellectual property. The book provides many useful pieces of information such as:
1. The differences between patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
2. How someone can copyright something.
3. How the extent of enforcibility of copyright laws change from nation to nation.
4. A brief history of the laws and court cases that have impacted and defined the evolution of copyright laws within the US.
5. How different industries and industry groups have dealt with and tried to change copyright laws.

In all, this book is a good read. The text is somewhat dry, though not difficult to understand. The style is somewhere between a textbook, an editorial, a history book, and an opinion piece. The book also provides a lot of handy references.