Dysfunctional Views on Copyright in the Federal Government | Public Knowledge
PK’s Sherwin Siy writes about a recent talk by Susan Anthony of the Patent and Trademark Office where she recounts an incident with a “shocking” number of “mischaracterizations” on the issue of fair use. From the description, it sounds as though he is correct that Anthony, while generally supportive of fair use, falls on the more protective side of its interpretation. Siy asks an important question:
How are we ever going to have a functional copyright policy if those who are charged with educating others can misstate such basic concepts so thoroughly?
While the law of copyright does have a few seemingly indisputable points, I would argue that interpretations of the law are so wide that “education” isn’t the way to look at the issue. As copyright becomes increasingly divisive, I think educating someone on copyright is becoming more like teaching someone about a controversial issue or something subjective (like educating someone on the social value of American Idol). Everyone brings their own ideological baggage to the issue. This doesn’t mean that it can’t or shouldn’t be done (as I have argued, Stanley Fish’s views are very instructive on this point), but rather that calls for education on copyright are bound to fail under our current indeterminate system of fair use. It’s important not to forget that the problem of individual copying was largely solved by individual and institutional norms before the digital age (where it was a concern at all). My question is: is copyright “education” enough to create the norms necessary to create compliance with the law?