<title>CHAPTER ONE: Creators</title>
<indexterm id='idxanimatedcartoons' class='startofrange'><primary>animated cartoons</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm id='idxcartoonfilms' class='startofrange'><primary>cartoon films</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxfilmsanimated' class='startofrange'><primary>films</primary><secondary>animated</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxsteamboatwillie' class='startofrange'><primary>Steamboat Willie</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxmickeymouse' class='startofrange'><primary>Mickey Mouse</primary></indexterm>
<para>
<emphasis role="strong">In 1928</emphasis>, a cartoon character was born. An early Mickey Mouse
made his debut in May of that year, in a silent flop called <citetitle>Plane Crazy</citetitle>.
distributed cartoon synchronized with sound, <citetitle>Steamboat Willie</citetitle> brought
to life the character that would become Mickey Mouse.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxdisneywalt' class='startofrange'><primary>Disney, Walt</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Synchronized sound had been introduced to film a year earlier in the
movie <citetitle>The Jazz Singer</citetitle>. That success led Walt Disney to copy the
match. And quite often, Disney's great genius, his spark of
creativity, was built upon the work of others.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxdisneywalt' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm id='idxkeatonbuster' class='startofrange'><primary>Keaton, Buster</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxsteamboatbilljr' class='startofrange'><primary>Steamboat Bill, Jr.</primary></indexterm>
<para>
This much is familiar. What you might not know is that 1928 also marks
another important transition. In that year, a comic (as opposed to
incredible stunts. The film was classic Keaton—wildly popular
and among the best of its genre.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxderivativeworkspiracyvs' class='startofrange'><primary>derivative works</primary><secondary>piracy vs.</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxpiracyderivativeworkvs' class='startofrange'><primary>piracy</primary><secondary>derivative work vs.</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
<citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>. appeared before Disney's cartoon Steamboat
Willie.
that we get Steamboat Willie, and then from Steamboat Willie, Mickey
Mouse.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxsteamboatwillie' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxmickeymouse' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxkeatonbuster' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxsteamboatbilljr' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm id='idxcreativitybytransformingpreviousworks' class='startofrange'><primary>creativity</primary><secondary>by transforming previous works</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxdisneyinc' class='startofrange'><primary>Disney, Inc.</primary></indexterm>
<para>
This <quote>borrowing</quote> was nothing unique, either for Disney or for the
industry. Disney was always parroting the feature-length mainstream
others before him, creating something new out of something just barely
old.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxgrimmfairytales' class='startofrange'><primary>Grimm fairy tales</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Sometimes this borrowing was slight. Sometimes it was significant.
Think about the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. If you're as
own extraordinary talent, and then burned that mix into the soul of
his culture. Rip, mix, and burn.
</para>
-<indexterm startref="idxanimatedcartoons" class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxgrimmfairytales' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
This is a kind of creativity. It is a creativity that we should
remember and celebrate. There are some who would say that there is no
creativity</quote>—a form of expression and genius that builds upon the
culture around us and makes it something different.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxderivativeworkspiracyvs' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxpiracyderivativeworkvs' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxcreativitybytransformingpreviousworks' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm id='idxcopyrightdurationof' class='startofrange'><primary>copyright</primary><secondary>duration of</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxpublicdomaindefined' class='startofrange'><primary>public domain</primary><secondary>defined</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxpublicdomaintraditionaltermforconversionto' class='startofrange'><primary>public domain</primary><secondary>traditional term for conversion to</secondary></indexterm>
<para> In 1928, the culture that Disney was free to draw upon was
relatively fresh. The public domain in 1928 was not very old and was
therefore quite vibrant. The average term of copyright was just around
anyone— whether connected or not, whether rich or not, whether
approved or not—to use and build upon.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxanimatedcartoons' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxfilmsanimated' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
This is the ways things always were—until quite recently. For most
of our history, the public domain was just over the horizon. From
content from before the Great Depression.
</para>
<indexterm startref='idxcartoonfilms' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxdisneyinc' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxcopyrightdurationof' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxpublicdomaindefined' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxpublicdomaintraditionaltermforconversionto' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm><primary>Disney, Walt</primary></indexterm>
<para>
<emphasis role="strong">Of course</emphasis>, Walt Disney had no monopoly on <quote>Walt Disney creativity.</quote>
Nor does America. The norm of free culture has, until recently, and
except within totalitarian nations, been broadly exploited and quite
universal.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxcomicsjapanese' class='startofrange'><primary>comics, Japanese</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxderivativeworkspiracyvs2' class='startofrange'><primary>derivative works</primary><secondary>piracy vs.</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxjapanesecomics' class='startofrange'><primary>Japanese comics</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxmanga' class='startofrange'><primary>manga</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxpiracyderivativeworkvs2' class='startofrange'><primary>piracy</primary><secondary>derivative work vs.</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
Consider, for example, a form of creativity that seems strange to many
Americans but that is inescapable within Japanese culture: <citetitle>manga</citetitle>, or
variant on manga that from a lawyer's perspective is quite odd, but
from a Disney perspective is quite familiar.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxcreativitybytransformingpreviousworks2' class='startofrange'><primary>creativity</primary><secondary>by transforming previous works</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxdoujinshicomics' class='startofrange'><primary>doujinshi comics</primary></indexterm>
<para>
This is the phenomenon of <citetitle>doujinshi</citetitle>. Doujinshi are also comics, but
they are a kind of copycat comic. A rich ethic governs the creation of
there are committees that review doujinshi for inclusion within shows
and reject any copycat comic that is merely a copy.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxdisneywalt2' class='startofrange'><primary>Disney, Walt</primary></indexterm>
<para>
These copycat comics are not a tiny part of the manga market. They are
huge. More than 33,000 <quote>circles</quote> of creators from across Japan produce
who control the commercial manga market to shut the doujinshi market
down. It flourishes, despite the competition and despite the law.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxcopyrightlawjapanese' class='startofrange'><primary>copyright law</primary><secondary>Japanese</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Steamboat Bill, Jr.</primary></indexterm>
<para>
The most puzzling feature of the doujinshi market, for those trained
in the law, at least, is that it is allowed to exist at all. Under
infringement of the original copyright to make a copy or a derivative
work without the original copyright owner's permission.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxdisneywalt2' class='endofrange'/>
<indexterm id='idxwinickjudd' class='startofrange'><primary>Winick, Judd</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Yet this illegal market exists and indeed flourishes in Japan, and in
York: Perennial, 2000).
</para></footnote>
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxcopyrightlawjapanese' class='endofrange'/>
<indexterm><primary>Superman comics</primary></indexterm>
<para>
American comics now are quite different, Winick explains, in part
do. <quote>As a creator, it's frustrating having to stick to some parameters
which are fifty years old.</quote>
</para>
-<indexterm startref="idxwinickjudd" class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxwinickjudd' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm id='idxcopyrightlawjapanese2' class='startofrange'><primary>copyright law</primary><secondary>Japanese</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>comics, Japanese</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxmehrasalil' class='startofrange'><primary>Mehra, Salil</primary></indexterm>
<para>
The norm in Japan mitigates this legal difficulty. Some say it is
precisely the benefit accruing to the Japanese manga market that
rights. This is essentially a prisoner's dilemma solved.</quote>
</para></footnote>
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxcomicsjapanese' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxjapanesecomics' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxmanga' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
The problem with this story, however, as Mehra plainly acknowledges,
is that the mechanism producing this laissez faire response is not
a more general pattern of blocking this <quote>free taking</quote> by the doujinshi
culture?
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxcopyrightlawjapanese2' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxmehrasalil' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
I spent four wonderful months in Japan, and I asked this question
as often as I could. Perhaps the best account in the end was offered by
piracy, or does it help them? Would lawyers fighting this piracy help
their clients or hurt them?
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxdoujinshicomics' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
<emphasis role='strong'>Let's pause</emphasis> for a moment.
</para>
diverse, and modern society cannot flourish without intellectual
property.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxdisneywalt3' class='startofrange'><primary>Disney, Walt</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxgrimmfairytales2' class='startofrange'><primary>Grimm fairy tales</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Keaton, Buster</primary></indexterm>
<para>
But it takes just a second's reflection to realize that there is
plenty of value out there that <quote>property</quote> doesn't capture. I don't
wrong with the taking from the Grimms because the Grimms' work was in
the public domain.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxfreeculturederivativeworksbasedon' class='startofrange'><primary>free culture</primary><secondary>derivative works based on</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
Thus, even though the things that Disney took—or more generally,
the things taken by anyone exercising Walt Disney creativity—are
things remain free for the taking within a free culture, and that
freedom is good.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxgrimmfairytales2' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm id='idxcopyrightlawjapanese3' class='startofrange'><primary>copyright law</primary><secondary>Japanese</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>comics, Japanese</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxdoujinshicomics2' class='startofrange'><primary>doujinshi comics</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxjapanesecomics2' class='startofrange'><primary>Japanese comics</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxmanga2' class='startofrange'><primary>manga</primary></indexterm>
<para>
The same with the doujinshi culture. If a doujinshi artist broke into
a publisher's office and ran off with a thousand copies of his latest
have stolen something of value. The law bans that stealing in whatever
form, whether large or small.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxcreativitybytransformingpreviousworks2' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
Yet there is an obvious reluctance, even among Japanese lawyers, to
say that the copycat comic artists are <quote>stealing.</quote> This form of Walt
Disney creativity is seen as fair and right, even if lawyers in
particular find it hard to say why.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxderivativeworkspiracyvs2' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxpiracyderivativeworkvs2' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxcopyrightlawjapanese3' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxdoujinshicomics2' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxjapanesecomics2' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxmanga2' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm><primary>Shakespeare, William</primary></indexterm>
<para>
It's the same with a thousand examples that appear everywhere once you
begin to look. Scientists build upon the work of other scientists
societies more fully than unfree, perhaps, but all societies to some degree.
<!-- PAGE BREAK 43 -->
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxdisneywalt3' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
The hard question is therefore not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> a
culture is free. All cultures are free to some degree. The hard
build upon; unfree, or permission, cultures leave much less. Ours was a
free culture. It is becoming much less so.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxfreeculturederivativeworksbasedon' class='endofrange'/>
<!-- PAGE BREAK 44 -->
</chapter>
<chapter label="2" id="mere-copyists">
<title>CHAPTER TWO: <quote>Mere Copyists</quote></title>
-<indexterm id='idxcameratech' class='startofrange'><primary>camera technology</primary></indexterm>
-<indexterm id='idxphotography' class='startofrange'><primary>photography</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Daguerre, Louis</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxcameratechnology' class='startofrange'><primary>camera technology</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxphotography' class='startofrange'><primary>photography</primary></indexterm>
<para>
<emphasis role='strong'>In 1839</emphasis>, Louis Daguerre invented
the first practical technology for producing what we would call
lowering the costs, Eastman expected he could dramatically broaden the
population of photographers.
</para>
-<indexterm><primary>Kodak Primer, The (Eastman)</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxkodakcameras' class='startofrange'><primary>Kodak cameras</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxkodakprimertheeastman' class='startofrange'><primary>Kodak Primer, The (Eastman)</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Eastman developed flexible, emulsion-coated paper film and placed
rolls of it in small, simple cameras: the Kodak. The device was
chemicals.<footnote>
<para>
<!-- f2 -->
+<indexterm><primary>Coe, Brian</primary></indexterm>
Brian Coe, <citetitle>The Birth of Photography</citetitle> (New York: Taplinger Publishing,
1977), 53.
-<indexterm><primary>Coe, Brian</primary></indexterm>
</para></footnote>
</para>
</blockquote>
+<indexterm startref='idxkodakprimertheeastman' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
For $25, anyone could make pictures. The camera came preloaded
with film, and when it had been used, the camera was returned to an
Based on a chart in Jenkins, p. 178.
</para></footnote>
</para>
-<indexterm startref='idxcameratech' class='endofrange'/>
<indexterm><primary>Coe, Brian</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Coe, 58.
</para></footnote>
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>democracy</primary><secondary>in technologies of expression</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>expression, technologies of</primary><secondary>democratic</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
In this way, the Kodak camera and film were technologies of
expression. The pencil or paintbrush was also a technology of
people a way to express themselves more easily than any tools could
have before.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxkodakcameras' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm id='idxpermissionsphotographyexemptedfrom' class='startofrange'><primary>permissions</primary><secondary>photography exempted from</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
What was required for this technology to flourish? Obviously,
Eastman's genius was an important part. But also important was the
Dist. Ct. 1894).
</para></footnote>
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxcameratechnology' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm id='idxdisneywalt4' class='startofrange'><primary>Disney, Walt</primary></indexterm>
<para>
The arguments in favor of requiring permission will sound surprisingly
familiar. The photographer was <quote>taking</quote> something from the person or
that they thought valuable.
</para>
<indexterm><primary>Brandeis, Louis D.</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Steamboat Bill, Jr.</primary></indexterm>
<para>
On the other side was an argument that should be familiar, as well.
Sure, there may be something of value being used. But citizens should
<citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>. or the Brothers Grimm, the photographer should be
free to capture an image without compensating the source.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxdisneywalt4' class='endofrange'/>
<indexterm><primary>images, ownership of</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Fortunately for Mr. Eastman, and for photography in general, these
(1993).
</para></footnote>)
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>Napster</primary></indexterm>
<para>
We can only speculate about how photography would have developed had
the law gone the other way. If the presumption had been against the
demonstrated before a company developed pictures. We could imagine a
system developing to demonstrate that permission.
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>democracy</primary><secondary>in technologies of expression</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>expression, technologies of</primary><secondary>democratic</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
<!-- PAGE BREAK 48 -->
growth in a democratic technology of expression would have been
realized.
</para>
-<indexterm><primary>camera technology</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm startref='idxphotography' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxeastmangeorge' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxpermissionsphotographyexemptedfrom' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
<emphasis role='strong'>If you drive</emphasis> through San
Francisco's Presidio, you might see two gaudy yellow school buses
something about media by doing something with media. By doing, they
think. By tinkering, they learn.
</para>
-<indexterm startref="idxeastmangeorge" class='endofrange'/>
-<indexterm startref="idxphotography" class='endofrange'/>
<para>
These buses are not cheap, but the technology they carry is
increasingly so. The cost of a high-quality digital video system has
interests at stake.
<!-- PAGE BREAK 91 -->
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>Disney, Walt</primary></indexterm>
<para>
When you think across these examples, and the other examples that
make up the first four chapters of this section, this balance makes
the moon, and the invention of the printing press.
</para>
</blockquote>
+<indexterm><primary>Disney, Walt</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Kahle is not the only librarian. The Internet Archive is not the only
archive. But Kahle and the Internet Archive suggest what the future of
</para></footnote>
These two different uses of my creative work are treated the same.
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>Disney, Walt</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Mickey Mouse</primary></indexterm>
<para>
This again may seem right to you. If I wrote a book, then why should
you be able to write a movie that takes my story and makes money from
a library of public domain works by scanning these works and making
them available for free.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxdisneywalt5' class='startofrange'><primary>Disney, Walt</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Grimm fairy tales</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Eldred's library was not simply a copy of certain public domain
works, though even a copy would have been of great value to people
(<citetitle>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</citetitle>, <citetitle>Treasure Planet</citetitle>). These are all
commercial publications of public domain works.
</para>
-<indexterm startref="idxhawthornenathaniel" class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxhawthornenathaniel' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxdisneywalt5' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
The Internet created the possibility of noncommercial publications of
public domain works. Eldred's is just one example. There are literally
devote my life to teaching constitutional law if these nine Justices
were going to be petty politicians.
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>Constitution, U.S.</primary><secondary>copyright purpose established in</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>copyright</primary><secondary>constitutional purpose of</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>copyright</primary><secondary>duration of</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Disney, Walt</primary></indexterm>
<para>
<emphasis role='strong'>Now let's pause</emphasis> for a moment to
make sure we understand what the argument in
The law should regulate in certain areas of culture—but it should
regulate culture only where that regulation does good. Yet lawyers
-<!-- PAGE BREAK 311 -->
+<!-- PAGE BREAK 311-->
rarely test their power, or the power they promote, against this
simple pragmatic question: <quote>Will it do good?</quote> When challenged about
the expanding reach of the law, the lawyer answers, <quote>Why not?</quote>
projects / text-free-culture-lessig.git / blobdiff