Image: Flick Creative Common by hashmil
Copyright has became one of the most talked topic in the digital world. There are 12,050,000,000 search results on Google about the topic. The Internet makes creative works become more accessible to the public but also raise a big question for author on how to protect their work and get credit for their hard work. There is a group of digital writers publishers and producer are trying to make the the copy right law become tighter by proposing Stop Online Piracy Act [ SOPA] and PIPA. However there are a big group of writer and photographer who are supporting a more transparency approach with open source. On November 2, 2012, Trey Ratcliff a celebrity photographer wrote a post explaining why he does not use watermark. Ratcliff explained that with today technology copyright become less relevant because reader can easily trade back to the original source. Earlier this year he talked about copyright and the power of sharing for content producer. Another famous blogger Leo Babauta of ZenHabits released his copyright power. These are some of the most powerful internet content creators. They would not give up their copyright for no reason. Technology has changed the way the publishing industry works, copyright can actually hurt creators in many cases instead of protecting them. There are people who are copyright support because of economic reason instead of the benefits of readers.
Firstly most creative works are collaboration, if copyright law is too strict, most creators will not be able to afford licensing works in order to creating new work. Copyright free work such as work under creative common, open source and Project Gutenberg allows writers to borrow ideas and build their work from it. It gives a freedom of speech and allow people to be more creativity. They have freedom to express their thought and and idea without worrying about being sue by the original writer. In Copyright’s common, Paul Goldstein showed that every great content producer borrowed the idea from someone else.With a very tight copyright law, content creators will have less creativity freedom to write which will lead to less works will be available to the public. Reader will have less options to choose from. Also we would have less way to access to content. For example. Google was not the first search engine, but it became the best. With a very strict copyright law, Google would not be existed in the first place because Larry Page and Sergey Brin builded it based on someone’s else idea. Also Google would not able to archive all the works online for people to search. Therefore copyright law limit creativity and have negative effects on readers.
Secondly, copyright makes creative works become less accessible by the public. Copyright law is protecting the publisher and producer more than author himself. Every writer wants his works to be share and get to readers hands. Writer wants his works to live even after he pass away. If copyright doe not get release, the majority of public will not get access. The greatest archive of works like Google books are benefit from a copyright free culture.
Secondly, most copy supporter’s argument that copyright law is protecting author and make sure they get paid. However according to this graph from Johanna Blakley’s talk about the free culture in Fashion, industries with low intellectual property such as food automobiles, fashion, and furniture has a much higher gross sales of goods in 2007 than industry with high IP like film, books, music.
Source: Johanna Blakley‘s Tedx Talk
With today technology readers who value the efforts author has put into their work will reward them no matter what. People who wants the content for free will still find the way to break copyright law and gain access. Copyright law is not totally protecting publisher’s benefit.
In conclusion, Copyright is still relevant in today world. It helps to protect the publishing industry from some aspect. However with a very strict copyright law, it will have a negative effects on creative works. This directly affects the quality resources available for readers. Also copyright mostly protecting the business side of publishing not readers. We need to find a fair balance between economic and creativity to provide the best experience for readers.
Works Cited
Babauta, Leo. “Open Source Blogging: Feel Free to Steal My Content.” Web log post. ZenHabits. Leo Babauta, 1 July 2008. Web. 2 Mar. 2012. <http://zenhabits.net/open-source-blogging-feel-free-to-steal-my-content/>.
Blakley, Johanna. “Lessons from Fashion’s Free Culture.” Lecture. TedxUSC. Apr. 2010. TED. Web. 1 Mar. 2012. <http://www.ted.com/talks/johanna_blakley_lessons_from_fashion_s_free_culture.html>.
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Ratcliff, Trey. “Why I Don’t Use Watermarks.” Web log post. Google+. Google, 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. <https://plus.google.com/105237212888595777019/posts/UTKKo5Su6Rj#105237212888595777019/posts/UTKKo5Su6Rj>.
Ratcliff, Trey. “Why Photographers Should Stop Complaining about Copyright and Embrace Pinterest.” Web log post. Stuck In Customs. 13 Feb. 2011. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. <http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2012/02/13/why-photographers-should-stop-complaining-about-copyright-and-embrace-pinterest/>.