Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars [Hardcover]

William Patry (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195385640 | ISBN-13: 978-0195385649 | Publication Date: September 3, 2009 | Edition: 1

Metaphors, moral panics, folk devils, Jack Valenti, Joseph Schumpeter, John Maynard Keynes, predictable irrationality, and free market fundamentalism are a few of the topics covered in this lively, unflinching examination of the Copyright Wars: the pitched battles over new technology, business models, and most of all, consumers.
In Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars, William Patry lays bare how we got to where we are: a bloated, punitive legal regime that has strayed far from its modest, but important roots. Patry demonstrates how copyright is a utilitarian government program--not a property or moral right. As a government program, copyright must be regulated and held accountable to ensure it is serving its public purpose. Just as Wall Street must serve Main Street, neither can copyright be left to a Reaganite "magic of the market."
The way we have come to talk about copyright--metaphoric language demonizing everyone involved--has led to bad business and bad policy decisions. Unless we recognize that the debates over copyright are debates over business models, we will never be able to make the correct business and policy decisions.
A centrist and believer in appropriately balanced copyright laws, Patry concludes that calls for strong copyright laws, just like calls for weak copyright laws, miss the point entirely: the only laws we need are effective laws, laws that further the purpose of encouraging the creation of new works and learning. Our current regime, unfortunately, creates too many bad incentives, leading to bad conduct. Just as President Obama has called for re-tooling and re-imagining the auto industry, Patry calls for a remaking of our copyright laws so that they may once again be respected.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A thought-provoking and highly readable book by one of America's top copyright scholars. Anyone interested in modern copyright debates needs to read it."
-Eugene Volokh, Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

"Patry's insight into copyright law itself has long been established, but with this book he takes us deep into how the debate surrounding copyright law has been twisted and distorted. This is a must-read for anyone looking to understand the real issues in the copyright debate, both from the business-model and policy perspectives."
-Mike Masnick, Founder and CEO, Floor64

"Patry makes real policy prescriptions and emphasizes hard economic data, combined with his characteristic morality, innovation, and learning. This is an important book."
-Carl Malamud, Founder, Public.Resource.Org

"Patry's argument for reforming copyright law to promote modern day innovation is both engaging and meticulously supported by history and facts - an essential read for copyright practitioners and policymakers alike."
-R. David Donoghue, Partner, Holland & Knight

"A bold and brilliant analysis of key cultural, business, economic, philosophical, and legal issues. Do we need 'creative destruction'? A must for the copyright community and its onlookers."
-Howard Knopf, Counsel, Macera & Jarzyna, LLP

"Few people are as qualified to write a book about the copyright wars as William Patry...And Patry has written a very fine book indeed. Reading Moral Panics is like watching a master brick layer gracefully and effortlessly build a solid wall: no wasted motion, no sweat, no missteps. Patry knows this subject better than anyone and can really explain it. This is the part of the debate that usually has me frothing at the chops, but Patry remains admirably calm as he carries this off, explaining in terms that anyone can understand the terrible violence that this kind of monopoly control does to our discourse, the arts, and competition and innovation."
-http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/14/patrys-moral-panics.html>

"The short version is 'it's great.'
- Mike Masnic-TechDirt's

"The tone is, as Patry hoped, civil and the two copyright lawyers' thoughts are well worth reading for anyone with an interest in the state of copyright law."
-Robert J. Ambrogi Legal Blog Watch

"William Patry has recently written a fascinating book entitled Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars which should be illuminating reading for every photographer interested in copyright in the digital age. In summary, Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars gives a good introduction to understanding the background and context of energetic discussions of copyright in this age. We all as photographers, along with all participants in the digital copyright wars would do well to heed the advice of the author, tone down the rhetoric, and work towards innovative solutions."
-David Sanger's Blog-White House Correspondent for the New York Times

About the Author

William Patry is Senior Copyright Counsel at Google Inc. He previously served as copyright counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, a Policy Planning Advisor to the Register of Copyrights, a law professor, and in the private practice of law. He is the most prolific scholar of copyright in history, including being the author of an eight-volume treatise and a separate treatise on the fair use doctrine.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 292 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (September 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195385640
• ISBN-13: 978-0195385649
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #74 in Books > Law > Intellectual Property > Patent, Trademark & Copyright

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to Fix Copyright: The Seque;, February 9, 2010

By 

William Patry (Stamford, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars (Hardcover)

Thanks for the comments. The last (second) review noted that I don't offer a prescription out of the current situation. That was deliberate: I wanted this book to be about how we talk about copyright and the influence that plays in our thinking. Had I wrote a prescriptive book, that's all people would have focused on, I feared. But, since in the book I frequently advocate giving consumers what they want rather than what businesses want to give to them, I am heeding my own advice. I am writing a sequel, which is entirely prescriptive, called "How to Fix Copyright." It will be published by Oxford University Press too and will come out I imagine at the beginning of 2011. so please read and judge Moral Panics for what it set out to do.
P.S. I had to rate the book to post these remarks, and was not being presumptuous. I obviously would have preferred to post without rating myself.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond the Valley of the Copyright Nerds, August 13, 2009

By 

Richard "Conned-sumer" (SAUSALITO, US, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars (Hardcover)

I've read other policy explorations by copyright experts -- Copyrights and Copy Wrongs, Copyright's Paradox, Copyright's Highway,The Future of Ideas, and Digital Copyright -- and Patry's book is distinguishable on a few levels. Most importantly, it's better written. Patry's use of language and metaphors (he discusses the distinction between metaphor and simile) is a few steps ahead of his colleagues and makes his thesis more palatable and an enjoyable read. As for Patry's brain, that also may be a few steps ahead of his colleagues. Not only is he able to accurately report on the shipwreck of copyright law (and to prescribe a reasonable approach for towing and repairing it) but he presents this approach in a simple, persuasive style. Finally, Patry's 'big picture' overview -- as painful as it may be for many of us copyright owners -- is the perspective of someone with practical, and not merely academic experience. I'm not sure if the appeal of this book extends beyond copyright nerds, but it should.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thorough analysis, convenient conclusions, December 31, 2010

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Don McGowan - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars (Kindle Edition)

Full disclosure: I work, and have for years, for content creators. I therefore believe that content creators should have the right, among other things, to place conditions upon the uses made of their creations. I believe this because this is their bargain: I will make things if you will let me choose how they will be used. Because I believe this, I'm good at my job of protecting content creators, and I have a commercial interest in preserving the law as it stands. I'll try to review objectively, but you should know that before I start because it's going to be a bias.

Patry works on the other side: for a company that has made its money by taking and aggregating content made by other people. It is also a company that has found a way to protect its IP through a monopoly: the monopoly in this case just happens to be a patent and not a copyright. Patry would have you believe that, although this is his background, it doesn't affect his conclusions. If that were true, he shouldn't have his job, because he would be a hypocrite in his daily life. I don't think he's a hypocrite: I think he really believes what he's saying and reasonable minds can certainly believe this too. You just need to keep in mind as you read that he has a commercial interest in having the law end up the way he advocates in this book.

Patry's analysis of the law and how it has developed is excellent. He has obviously done his homework and knows the historical development of copyright. These sections will provide you with an outstanding overview of the literature and the history, and will save you literally thousands of pages of reading to get you to the same place. His analysis of US law is bang-on, and he does make a compelling case for the idea that corporate copyright ownership and the way that copyright law protects corporate owners (who are really assignees from the original creators of the art) might be overbroad. I disagree, but his points are very strong and they require to be addressed.

He then moves to recommendations for how US law should expand to permit more types secondary uses without requiring the permission of the original creator. This is where we need to be aware of the biases I describe above. I find his analysis doesn't distinguish enough between original creators and corporate assignees. It's disingenuous to speak of a creative intent for a corporate assignee, but very easy to speak of one for an artist, and Patry conflates "owner of original work" with corporate assignees and "secondary users" with artists being held back by copyright law. But there are plenty of artists who create original works, and Patry's analysis doesn't seem to hold when you consider their position: if you draw a cartoon for your friend as a gift, should your friend be allowed to make t-shirts from it? If so, why? If not, why not? There are principled answers to each, but they're not as easy questions to address as whether a company should be allowed to block a small artist from creating derivative works.

The way these rights of original creators are protected outside the USA is by moral rights. Patry doesn't really talk about the doctrine of moral rights (which in the USA is limited to works of fine art but outside the USA is an inalienable right of all creators). I think that's because it cuts contrary to his point: if an original creator is able to limit downstream uses of their work that they believe are inconsistent with their original creative vision, then Patry's vision of unrestricted reuse doesn't work.

Long review, short conclusion: Patry's work is a detailed and excellent snapshot of a particular legal system (USA) and a particular time in its development. But this is a legal brief with a conclusion in mind. He argues it well. But he is not unbiased.