Page 366 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

P racy and Intellectual Property |

CoPyrighT
Copyright is actually a bundle of rights that protects literary or artistic ex-
pressions by defining the conditions for their reproduction, distribution, im-
portation, sale, derivative works, adaptation, translation, broadcast, exhibition,
and public performance. Copyright encompasses, but is not limited to, books,
plays, newspapers, computer programs, films, databases, musical compositions,
paintings, photographs, maps, sculpture, architecture, and advertisements. “Fair
use”—a legal concept specific to the United States—and the related “fair deal-
ing” found in the common law of some other countries protect limited use of
copyrighted materials for academic and research purposes.

ProTECTing miCkEy mousE

These categories of rights overlap in their protection of certain ideas. For
example, Mickey Mouse is covered by both copyright and trademark. When
the copyright on Mickey expires—which would have been in 2000, if not for a
20-year extension of copyright protection enacted by the 1998 Copyright Term
Extension Act (sometimes called the Mickey Mouse Protection Act due to the
extensive lobbying by Disney that aided passage of the law)—use of his image
will still be protected as a trademark of Disney.
This wide range of IP protections attempts to remove from the public do-
main a vast quantity of ideas and expressions. Such privatization makes it dif-
ficult to create new ideas and expressions without infringing on those already
protected. Is an act of piracy “theft” if it draws on the same common cultural
resources from which the idea infringed upon was developed? Understanding
both the emergence of IP rights and the current context in which they operate
allows us to question the criminality of some acts labeled as piracy.

“CraCking down” on PiraCy

On April 14, 2007, following a string of raids on illegal manufacturers, shops, street ven-
dors, and homes spanning 31 provinces in China, authorities destroyed approximately
42 million pirated copies of CDs, DVDs, and print materials by bulldozer, bonfire, and
shredding machine. These public spectacles were reminiscent of a similar media con-
flagration staged in Bangkok’s Pantip Plaza—which had been a veritable shopping mall
of pirated goods—on the eve of China’s entry into the WTO in 2001. The bright glare of
these public performances, designed to showcase China’s commitment to protecting IP,
illuminates some key questions in the debate over the limits of IP protection, especially
as it is globally propagated through international trade deals under pressure from private
industries.
Public bonfires make for a good show but do little to staunch the flow of pirated media
goods. The intangible digital data that comprise the copyrighted material on music CDs,
DVD movies, computer software, and text files can be infinitely duplicated, and the availability