1. FINAL THOUGHTS
Lisa Smith - ED626 Big Thinkers

2. “Copyright law must be changed. Changed not
abolished. I reject the calls of many to effectively
end copyright. Neither RW nor RO culture can truly
flourish without copyright.” -Lessig
Remix

3. Lessig Highlights
 Five “shifts” in the law that would drastically
improve the laws relationship to RW cultural
creativity and expression without negatively
impacting the existing market of the content
industry (Chapter 9):
 Deregulating amateur creativity
 Clear title on legalities
 Simplify copyright scope
 Decriminalizing the copy
 Decriminalizing file sharing

4. “The general rule of law is that the noblest of
human productions- knowledge, truths ascertained,
conceptions, and ideas- become, after voluntary
communication to others, free as the air to
common use” -Boyle
The Public Domain

5. Boyle Highlights
 Our culture, science, and economic welfare
depends on the balance between those ideas
that are controlled and those that are free.
 The public domain is being threatened by
current copyright, trademark, and patent laws
and regulation.
 Intellectual property wars are inhibiting our
expression by making our culture legally
unavailable to us (Chapter 1).

6. “The anti-copyright lobby made the successful
argument that freedom of content means freedom
of expression. But, the way I see it, copyright is the
engine of free expression.” -Levine
Free Ride

7. Levine Highlights
 Does information really want to be free?
 Hidden agendas in big business have eroded
copyright allowing technology companies to
hold media industries at ransom.
 Asks us to consider the implications of a
cultural free-for-all.
 Possible blanket license.
 Infringement an enforceable minor offence.
 System that ensures copyright holder
compensation.

8. "He who receives an idea from me, receives
instruction himself without lessening mine; as he
who lights his taper at mine, receives light without
darkening me.“ –Thomas Jefferson
Reclaiming Fair Use

9. Aufderheide & Jaszi Highlights
 The establishment and enforcement of norms
in our “communities of practice” using a Code
of Best Practices in Fair Use.
 Advocating for a clearer understanding of how
to use, remix, and share copyrighted content.
 Extensive research into copyright infringement
litigation leading to vindication under Fair Use.
 “Unlicensed” use allowed as long as it is
transformative (Chapter 6).

10. “The result is a flourishing nonmarket sector of
information, knowledge, and cultural production,
based in the networked environment, and applied
to anything that the many individuals connected to
it can imagine. Its outputs, in turn, are not treated
as exclusive property. They are instead subject to
an increasingly robust ethic of open sharing, open
for all others to build on, extend, and make their
own..” - Benkler
The Wealth of Networks

11. Benkler Highlights
 The networked information economy provides
an opportunity for greater individual freedom.
 Consumers are participatory audience.
 Desire to create is an intrinsic one.
 Intellectual property rights over information
held by the individual and business create a
barrier to information sharing and social
production.
 Copyright law restricts autonomy.

12. Final Thoughts
 Each of the authors have held very different views
and approaches on copyright reform. However,
several common threads can be found throughout
our readings this term:
 There is a need to express our creativity through the
sharing, reusing, and remixing of cultural references.
 The very nature of information is changing with the new
emerging technology.
 How we exchange information is impacting our culture,
sciences, and economy.
 Copyright law, as it currently stands, is regulating culture.
 Copyright law is regulating outside its intended scope.

13. Final Thoughts …continued
 I can honestly say that my eyes have been
opened to a much bigger perspective on copyright
than I ever dreamed possible.
 I believe that we are in the early stages of
copyright reform and I honestly think that we will
reach a point of critical mass where something will
need to give. If it does not, then we will be forced
to consider the mass criminalization of our
population. This to me is unacceptable.
 It is difficult to say how this will apply to the work
that I do with my clients and students as copyright
is in a state of flux and instability.

14. Final Thoughts …continued
 What I do know at this point is that:
 I will continue to use intellectual property that is “free”
to use without risk of infringement in the creation of
content.
 I will continue to support and contribute to creative
commons.
 I will continue to educate my students on copyright
laws.
 I will continue to facilitate creativity in my students in
anyway that I legally can within the current
understanding of copyright and its regulation of
intellectual property.

15. Works Cited
 Lessig, Lawrence (2008). Remix: Making Art and
Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. New York:
The Penguin Press.
 Boyle, James (2008). The Public Domain: Enclosing
the Commons of the Mind. New Haven: Yale
University Press.
 Lessig, Lawrence. (2008). Remix: Making Art and
Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. London,
UK: Penguin Press.
 Aufderheide, P. & Jaszi, P. (2011). Reclaiming Fair
Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright. Chicago,
IL: University of Chicago Press.
 Benkler, Y. (2006). The Wealth of Networks: How
Social Production Transforms Markets and
Freedom. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.