Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain
by Keith Aoki, James Boyle, Jennifer Jenkins
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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 show more 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. Readers can download a pdf of the book here. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
It seems appropriate that the first image you see when you open this work is reminiscent of the Crypt Keeper. After all, the topic is something most people fear -- law. In fact, the specific area, copyright law, even causes the knees of some lawyers to quake.
Bound by Law? is a comic book (or graphic novel if you prefer) issued by the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School. It seeks to explain to the layperson two of the thornier issues in modern copyright law for writers, musicians, artists and filmmakers.
Basically, the work (written by James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins and illustrated by Keith Aoki) uses a documentary filmmaker to examine the impact of the doctrines of "public domain" and "fair use." The public show more domain is comprised of material on which copyright never existed or has expired and, hence, can be freely used by the public at large. Fair use is a statutory exception to the copyright laws that allows use of portions of copyrighted material for a variety of purposes as long as the use doesn't exceed the boundaries of a four-factor test the law establishes.
Why a comic book and a focus on documentary filmmaking? Because they are excellent vehicles for exploring the issues.
Balance of review at http://prairieprogressive.com/?p=681 show less
Bound by Law? is a comic book (or graphic novel if you prefer) issued by the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School. It seeks to explain to the layperson two of the thornier issues in modern copyright law for writers, musicians, artists and filmmakers.
Basically, the work (written by James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins and illustrated by Keith Aoki) uses a documentary filmmaker to examine the impact of the doctrines of "public domain" and "fair use." The public show more domain is comprised of material on which copyright never existed or has expired and, hence, can be freely used by the public at large. Fair use is a statutory exception to the copyright laws that allows use of portions of copyrighted material for a variety of purposes as long as the use doesn't exceed the boundaries of a four-factor test the law establishes.
Why a comic book and a focus on documentary filmmaking? Because they are excellent vehicles for exploring the issues.
Balance of review at http://prairieprogressive.com/?p=681 show less
Amusing comic book describing the trials and tribulations associated with licensing copyrighted content for documentary films.
Bound by Law?: Tales from the Public Domain, New Expanded Edition by Keith Aoki (2008)
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Published Reviews
ThingScore 92
The comic looks great, expertly mixing in the styles of previous "didactic" comics from The Crypt Keeper to Understanding Comics. I just got my copy and I'm loving it to bits.
added by lampbane
"This graphic novel provides readers with a simple introduction to copyright law, including the basics of public domain and the fine line between fair use and copyright infringement.""this is a must-read for any young filmmaker."
added by jodi
"overall an
informative and engaging discussion of fair use" "The concept of fair use is still evanescent, to be sure, but it
is somewhat easier to grasp and appreciate because of the guidance provided
in Bound By Law?"
Reviewer wanted more treatment of Creative Commons and "the manner in which third-party, non-author owners of copyrights skew the
copyright deal that the Constitution envisions"
informative and engaging discussion of fair use" "The concept of fair use is still evanescent, to be sure, but it
is somewhat easier to grasp and appreciate because of the guidance provided
in Bound By Law?"
Reviewer wanted more treatment of Creative Commons and "the manner in which third-party, non-author owners of copyrights skew the
copyright deal that the Constitution envisions"
added by jodi
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Author Information
Some Editions
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain
- Original publication date
- 2007
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 137
- Popularity
- 240,060
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.73)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 1
