Copyfraud and Other Abuses of Intellectual Property Law

Jason Mazzone

ISBN 10: 0804760063 / ISBN 13: 9780804760065

Published by Stanford University Press Okt 2011, 2011

About this Item

Neuware - Intellectual property law in the United States does not work well and it needs to be reformed-but not for the reasons given by most critics. The issue is not that intellectual property rights are too easily obtained, too broad in scope, and too long in duration. Rather, the primary problem is overreaching by publishers, producers, artists, and others who abuse intellectual property law by claiming stronger rights than the law actually gives them. From copyfraud-like phony copyright notices attached to the U.S. Constitution-to lawsuits designed to prevent people from poking fun at Barbie, from controversies over digital sampling in hip-hop to Major League Baseball's ubiquitous restriction on sharing any 'accounts and descriptions of this game,' overreaching claims of intellectual property rights are everywhere. Overreaching interferes with legitimate uses and reproduction of a wide variety of works, imposes enormous social and economic costs, and ultimately undermines creative endeavors. As this book reveals, the solution is not to change the scope or content of intellectual property rights, but to create mechanisms to prevent people asserting rights beyond those they legitimately possess. While there are many other books on intellectual property, this is the first to examine overreaching as a distinct problem and to show how to solve it. Jason Mazzone makes a series of timely proposals by which government, organizations, and ordinary people can stand up to creators and content providers when they seek to grab more than the law gives them.

Seller Inventory # 9780804760065

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Copyfraud and Other Abuses of Intellectual Property Law
• Publisher: Stanford University Press Okt 2011
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804760063
• ISBN 13: 9780804760065
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 228W x 149H x 29D millimeters 228 millimeters width by 149 millimeters height by 29 millimeters depth
• Weight: 483 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Intellectual property law in the United States is on the verge of breakdown and needs to be reformed--but, according to law professor Jason Mazzone, the author of Copyfraud and Other Abuses of Intellectual Property Law, not for the reasons given by most critics.  Most Americans are familiar with the problems of illicit downloading and stolen software. But in this compulsively readable book, Mazzone argues that these familiar problems mask a greater threat to creativity and commerce--the ever-growing overreaching by publishers, producers, artists and corporations that claim stronger ownership rights than the law gives them.  

 As Mazzone argues, something is wrong in a society where:

·      Comics can be sued for making fun of Barbie
·      The Hells Angels stop production of Hollywood movies by charging misappropriation of images
·      Major League Baseball announces it can stop any human being from even describing a baseball game
·      Starbucks convinces customers that they don't have the right to take photos in coffee shops
·      Electronic book and music distributors are stripping away the entire idea of ownership
·      Universities spend millions of dollars each year requesting permission to reproduce public domain works by long dead authors.

Mazzone shows how growing abuse of intellectual property law has been abetted by confusion, unclear legal standards, outmoded law and economic bullying--and he illustrates the pervasive cost of these abuses.  Finally, he introduces specific measures by which we can cure these problems.

Erudite, surprising and accessible, Copyfraud and Other Abuses of Intellectual Property Law is a breakthrough title that will change forever how we look at creativity, law and commerce.  


ISBN: 9780804760065

About the Author

Jason Mazzone has taught intellectual property law and constitutional law at Brooklyn Law School since 2003; he is the youngest faculty member in the school's history to hold an endowed chair. A renowned legal scholar, Mazzone has written about legal issues for the New York Times and other national newspapers, and he is a regular media commentator and a blogger at the popular legal blog, Balkinization. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University, a master's degree from Stanford University, and a master's and doctorate from Yale University. Before entering academia, he was a law clerk to two federal judges and he practiced intellectual property law in New York City.