Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars (0) |  | Author: William Patry
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 193497
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 292
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0195385640
Dewey Decimal Number: 346.0482
EAN: 9780195385649
ASIN: 0195385640
Publication Date: September 3, 2009
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Beyond the Valley of the Copyright Nerds August 13, 2009
Richard (SAUSALITO, US, Canada)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
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.
How to Fix Copyright: The Seque; February 10, 2010
William Patry (Stamford, CT United States)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
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.
The Detriment of Culture: Copyright January 18, 2010
Sacramento Book Review (Sacramento, CA)
Provided in William Patry's book is a brief history of copyright legislation beginning in Britain and moving forward to America and the effects of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. The book argues that copyright has created a monopoly for copyright holders, who are able to determine how their works are used, in what forms, and who will provide them to the public in the digital age, all to the detriment of the public and our culture. Pretty much copyright is responsible for lackluster contemporary major label music, motion picture publishers receiving tax credits from states to film moves on location, DVD players not coming equipped with record buttons, and are part of why America is falling behind the rest of the world on the technological front. While all this continues to happen copyright owners continue to legislate their competition away, strengthening their market monopolies. This book is informative, simplified, and smart about our current situation but in ultimately leaving us there--without a tangible way out--the book falls short of aiding us around this behemoth culture-crippling industry. Just as copyright holders do not walk away from paychecks, Patry--by day a lawyer for Google--won't necessarily be leading the revolution he calls for.
Reviewed by Joe Atkins
 Necessary background for thinking about copyright February 21, 2010
D. Dobkin (Sunnyvale, CA United States)
Mr. Patry has written a very useful book, albeit a dense one. He recites the litany of cases in which content holders have declared the end of the world should a given technology be permitted, only to find themselves its eventual beneficiaries. Excerpts from the centuries-long history of the debates over copyright debunk the favored position of content owners that their rights are natural and not subject to constraints in favor of the public. He makes the connection between excessive copyright and suppression of innovation in the course of reciting the story of the various technologies attacked by content owners --from the player piano through digital audio tape to Napster. As noted in previous reviews and Mr. Patry's remarks in this space, the book is not prescriptive, although it does provide a key thought that is anathema to our business culture but not necessarily so to the public good: to wit, that companies should give customers what they want and then figure out how to make money doing it.
Potential readers should note that the book is often pedantic and repetitive, and may focus on issues of terminology and philosophy of argument that are likely of more interest to attorneys than other folks. It is nevertheless a very valuable read for anyone concerned about redressing the balance of copyright so as to further the progress of science and the useful arts, rather than criminalizing our children.
Good content, but where's the editing? March 5, 2010
Sara (Carlton, Victoria Australia)
I have yet to finish this but am enjoying Bill Patry's insights on the topic. However, within the first two chapters it is clear that this book was very lighlty edited, if at all. It's not what I expect from OUP.
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