There was just a show on A&E with the help of ABCnews which discussed this issue and guess what came up, The Star Wars. I posted the SW: PE related quote in this thread:
Upcoming TV Thread
Here's the pertinent clip:
Bleep Clip
Lessig’s “Free Culture” (http://www.free-culture.cc/) is a great read, and besides being free, it’s a great way to understand how the situation we’re all in, came from and how we all need to think out of the box to make some form of progress. So companies don’t feel cheated and so creators can make new creations.
What’s great is he lays out how the US began as a pirate nation and how corporations like Disney used their form of pirating and plundering of the Public Domain to gain dominance, but now that they are in power, they are squelching for the rest of us the opportunities they we’re once granted. The book will make you question all the nonsense the major media puts out in relation to creative works and copyright control issues.
And as Karyudo says it is illegal to rip a DVD because of the DMCA. The most recent modification to copyright (Family Copyright Act: see Wired [last 5-6 paragraphs]) gives the power to those companies which make ‘non-offensive’ movie edits to get around the DMCA. I wish I knew how, but things like Deleted Magic should have some form of protection from over bearing copyright owners. I see DM as a fantastic creative work, and no one should have to be forced into bankruptcy after creating something similar to it. (crosses fingers)
If you’ve got the interest: http://www.willfulinfringement.com/ is a fantastic documentary on the issue. There’s a great case in the documentary about a Clown who makes balloon animals which TOOOO closely resemble a famous piece of copyright, as the clown made the balloon animal he was handed a Cease & Desist letter.
Anyway, it’s a wild and constantly transforming world, so I applaud those who create and have to deal with the nonsense which sometimes happens.
The great thing about Lessig, is he comes out with this fairly straight up approach. But the examples he tends to use in his lectures are forms of creativity which push (and sometimes quite hard) the current copyright boundaries.
So he’ll say that piracy is bad (and duh it is), but then give an example which most people would view as piracy. Also he often uses examples which are net based, and don’t adhere to the typical ‘for profit’ form of creativity which much of the public will only recognize. Like DJ Dangermouse’s “Grey Album” or the Jib-Jab debate over “This Land is Your Land” or the Outfoxed documentary made up of only Fox newscasts. These are forms of creativity which we’re not possible (to the lay person) a few years ago. But now we have to confront the issue because technology has brought what was once only possible by a corporation down to the hands of you and me. And as he says it’s time now to look at getting people to recognize this form of creativity as something we should cherish and support with some new form of regulations or control concepts, before these creations are locked away from sight by unrealistic regulation.
I would bet Deleted Magic would become part of his lecture series if he knew about it. Maybe I should send him a copy.
[rambling off]
none