The Public Domain

In this enlightening book James Boyle describes what he calls the range wars of the information age - today's heated battles over intellectual property. Boyle argues that just as every informed citizen needs to know at least something about the environment or civil rights, every citizen should also understand intellectual property law. Why? Because intellectual property rights mark out the ground rules of the information society, and today's policies are unbalanced, unsupported by evidence, and often detrimental to cultural access, free speech, digital creativity, and scientific innovation.Boyle identifies as a major problem the widespread failure to understand the importance of the public domain - the realm of material that everyone is free to use and share without permission or fee. The public domain is as vital to innovation and culture as the realm of material protected by intellectual property rights, he asserts, and he calls for a movement akin to the environmental movement to preserve it. With a clear analysis of issues ranging from Jefferson's philosophy of innovation to musical sampling, synthetic biology and Internet file sharing, this timely book brings a positive new perspective to important cultural and legal debates. If we continue to enclose the "commons of the mind", Boyle argues, we will all be the poorer.

ISBN 0300137400   Pages 288 ISBN13 9780300137408 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Yale University Press   Weight (grammes) 608 Imprint Yale University Press   Published in New Haven Format Hardback   Height (mm) 235 Publication date 13 Jan 2009   Width (mm) 156 Library of Congress K1443   Spine width (mm) 28 DEWEY 346.048   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22

Preface		Comprised of at least jelly?
1		Why intellectual property		1
2		Thomas Jefferson write a letter		17
3		The second enclosure movement		42
4		The Internet threat		54
5		The farmers' tale : an allegory		83
6		I got a mashup		122
7		The enclosure of science and technology : two case studies		160
8		A creative commons		179
9		An evidence-free zone		205
10		An environmentalism for information		230
		Notes and further readings		249
		Index		297

"[T]his book is remarkable in many ways. . . I welcome this clarity and the sheer enthusiasm and humor of this simply delightful book."--Edward J./i>--Edward J. Valauskas"First Monday" (01/05/2009)

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