Modern debates on the ‘intellectual property’ front involve several, overlapping, recurring themes. One persistent pair of inter-related concerns is: How are creators, authors, artists, ‘content producers’, and the like to be compensated for their ‘contributions’ to our commons? and, How indispensable are the protections of the various legal regimes that are termed ‘intellectual property’ (andContinue reading “Schopenhauer on the Pernicious Influence of Copyright on Writing”
Tag Archives: intellectual property
Video Game ‘Cloning’: What Is It Good For?
Cloning of video games is a Bad Thing. Or so sayeth Brian X. Chen and some video game developers (New York Times, March 12th, ” For Creators of Games, A Faint Line on Cloning”). Roughly, the thesis advanced is: ‘cloning’ can be destructive of developer motivation and the video game market, and thus seems toContinue reading “Video Game ‘Cloning’: What Is It Good For?”
Cary Sherman is Upset SOPA and PIPA Were Not Enacted
I am thankful to the RIAA‘s Cary Sherman for having provided a wonderful sample of writing, which may profitably be used by those teaching classes on rhetoric and critical thinking. I’m referring to Sherman’s screed in today’s New York Times, which alternates between self-pity and bluster in complaining about the failure of the passage ofContinue reading “Cary Sherman is Upset SOPA and PIPA Were Not Enacted”
Nina Paley’s “Sita Sings The Blues”
This past weekend’s viewing pleasures included a long-standing, and much-awaited, resident of my movie queue: Nina Paley‘s 2008 graphically and musically eclectic reworking of the Indian epic Ramayana, Sita Sings The Blues. The movie incorporates four elements: a reworking of the traditional narrative of the Ramayana; a Mystery Science Theater-like commentary on the Ramayana carriedContinue reading “Nina Paley’s “Sita Sings The Blues””
Megan McArdle’s Defense Of Property Rights
In the Atlantic, Megan McArdle offers a long, tilting-at-strawmen defense of (intellectual) property rights. (In what follows, I’m not going to attempt line-by-line rebuttals; McArdle rambled too much for that. I’ve simply directed my ire against the two aspects of the post that stood out the most: the attack on a strawman argument and theContinue reading “Megan McArdle’s Defense Of Property Rights”
An “Intellectual Property” Lesson From A Busker
On Saturday morning, as I sat at 7th Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, waiting for a Q train to take me back home, I noticed a banjo player playing across the tracks from me on the Manhattan-bound platform. The station was noisy as usual, but still, somehow, his urgent strumming and foot stomping (on aContinue reading “An “Intellectual Property” Lesson From A Busker”
Getting Rid of “Mastery” Over Mountains
A couple of days ago, in response to my post on the language of mountaineering, my friend Karl Steel said (on a Facebook page somewhere, far, far away): Great piece, but haven’t you shifted the language of battle from climber vs. mountain to climber vs. self? what if we lose the battle or mastery languageContinue reading “Getting Rid of “Mastery” Over Mountains”
Samir Chopra 