Class Overview

Creativity 2.0: A Workshop Addressing Artists’ Rights in the Digital Age
Steve Davis
steve@stevebdavis.com
206-335-9559


Course Description / Goals

We are surrounded by the plethora of innovations and options spawned by the digital world and the internet. As a result, one of the most visible, challenging and inherently interesting legal debates emerges around the question of who owns and has the right to control artists’ works in the digital ecosystem.

This is not a new question. Important cases such as Napster and Grokster, among others, have set some standards for us to follow. But in more fundamental ways, practical questions surrounding the use and control of videos, music, pictures and text online are far from resolved, and the early case law surrounding these emerging questions only form part of a larger puzzle. There are policy questions, business standards and even social practices that eventually will define the ownership, control and access to works distributed through the internet.

Perhaps the most significant legal case on this topic pending in this country is Viacom’s suit against YouTube (and as the acquirer of YouTube, Google) claiming, among other things, widespread copyright infringement of Viacom’s many media properties by YouTube/Google for allowing open downloading and sharing of videos and more. Google vigorously opposes these claims, asserting a statutory safe harbor under the important Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) providing copyright owners the right to “opt out” and have their works removed from the site.

The emergent “grand debate” in the Creativity 2.0 world is whether in this era of new technology tools and platforms for distributing media, the current legal vehicles and standards of copyright are adequate to continue the long-standing constitutional balancing between protection and reward to the creator, and the public’s interest in knowledge and access.

Simply put, many are asking whether copyright is the enemy of innovation in the digital world.

This workshop will be a forum for examining different stakeholder’s points of view on this important debate, with the goal of developing a rationale and defensible outcome, and a way forward for both artists’ and technology innovators. After examining some of the underlying principles and legal framework regarding artists’ rights, we will spend most of our time debating, briefing and drafting:

(1) Possible revisions to the DMCA that best address the newest challenges presented by community sharing sites that were not contemplated when the initial legislation was drafted a decade ago;

(2) Outlines of relevant sections of the briefs for Google as if the case was to be heard in front of the U.S. Supreme Court; and

(3) A plan from both business and artists’ coalitions that are working to create non-judicial/non-statutory practices and approaches for resolving this problem to protect their respective interests.

Different groups in the class will prepare these proposals separately, then share and debate them as the class proceeds.

The class will include some case readings but mainly policy discussions, practical business analyses and mainstream press coverage on this topic. Guest speakers will participate. Active participation by the class is required.