Bound By Law: Tales from the Public Domain

Bound By Law: Tales from the Public Domain

From Booklist
This graphic-novel-format paperback is an excellent introduction to copyright law. The authors, all law professors, wanted to make copyright accessible for everyone in a form other than a law-review article. The "plot" revolves around Akiko, a filmmaker who wants to capture a day in the life of New York City. As Akiko tries to produce her film, she learns about copyright basics, including fair use, public domain, and the impact of digital technology. She also learns about the rise of the "rights culture," that is, a culture that demands a person obtain the rights to use copyrighted materials even for incidental uses for which rights were not required in the past. We leave Akiko musing over a "cultural environmental movement" that would counter the rights culture... This is a fantastic approach for introducing students to copyright law, even at the middle-school level, and a must for professional development. Esther Sinofsky
Copyright Â© American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"An indispensable guide for the perplexed (ain't we all!) in this postmodern information age - and all in easy-to-read comics format, a stunt far more difficult than you'd think!" --Art Spiegelman

"Bound By Law riffs expertly on classic comic styles, from the Crypt Keeper to Mad Magazine, superheros 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, 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.

Additional Praise for "Bound By Law"

"Documentary filmmakers should read a new comic book called Bound By Law that tackles the legal pitfalls of copyright. Why? Because history hangs in the balance." -Fiona Morgan, Wired News

"Will a spiky-haired, camera-toting super-heroine... restore decency and common sense to the world of creative endeavor?... 'Bound By Law' exercises the fair-use doctrine in a romp through popular culture." -Paul Bonner, The Herald-Sun

"Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Akiko, the fair-use freedom fighter! Akiko is heroine of a new comic book...created by three law profs who worry that a growing 'permissions culture' is hurting creativity by overprotecting it." -William Triplett, Variety Weekly

"Cornel West broke new ground for academics when he made a rap album while teaching at Harvard. Now three law professors have cranked out a comic book, in an effort to explain copyright law to young filmmakers and other creative types." -Daniel Lyons, Forbes Magazine
Country USA
Manufacturer Center for the Study of the Public Domain
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2014-01-04
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Center for the Study of the Public Domain
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2014-01-04
Format	Kindle eBook

Bound By Law: Tales from the Public Domain

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