[Random-bits] Aoki, Boyle and Jenkins comic book on copyright and creativity

[James Love]

If law professors decided to explain fair use of copyrighted works
and related ideas through a comic book, it apparently would look like
this content-packed 78 page effort, which not only presents large
amounts of legal advice to creative communities, but also pays homage
to many of the leading academic scholars in the field.    Jamie


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From: "James Boyle" <boyle@law.duke.edu>
Date: March 18, 2006 8:34:39 AM EST
To: "Boyle, James" <BOYLE@law.duke.edu>
Subject: Announcement:  please repost

Dear friends and colleagues, forgive the somewhat impersonal missive
-- but I thought it might be of interest.  Please spread the word and
repost widely.  Apologies for cross listing.  Thanks.  J

Duke Law School's Center for the Study of the Public Domain has just
released "BOUND BY LAW?" - a comic book on copyright and creativity
-- specifically, documentary film. It has been published under a
Creative Commons License.  The comic, by Keith Aoki, James Boyle and
Jennifer Jenkins explores the benefits of copyright in a digital age,
but also the threats to cultural history posed by a =93permissions
culture,=94 and the erosion of =93fair use=94 and the public domain.   You
can read or download the whole thing for free at http://
www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/

Hard copies are on sale at Amazon   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/
0974155314/

Educational orders for over 50 can be purchased directly from Duke at
a subsidized price.  http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/buy.html

"Bound By Law stars Akiko, a curvaceous, muscular filmmaker (think
Tomb Raider's Lara Croft with spiky hair) planning to shoot a
documentary about a day in the life of New York City...[It]
translates law into plain English and abstract ideas into 'visual
metaphors.' So the comic's heroine, Akiko, brandishes a laser gun as
she fends off a cyclopean 'Rights Monster' - all the while learning
copyright law basics, including the line between fair use and
copyright infringement." - Brandt Goldstein, The Wall Street Journal
online
=93Will a spiky-haired, camera-toting super-heroine... restore decency
and common sense to the world of creative endeavor?=94 -Paul Bonner,
The Herald-Sun
"Bound By Law riffs expertly on classic comic styles, from the Crypt
Keeper to Mad Magazine, superheros to Understanding Comics, and lays
out a sparkling, witty, moving and informative story about how the
eroded public domain has made documentary filmmaking into a
minefield." - Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing.net