Brand name bullies : the quest to own and control culture

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Title:

Brand name bullies : the quest to own and control culture

Author:

Bollier, David.

ISBN:

9780471679271

Personal Author:

Bollier, David.

Publication Information:

Hoboken, N.J. : J. Wiley, c2005.

Physical Description:

x, 309 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

Contents:

1. The crusade to lock up music -- 2. Creativity and captive images -- 3. Appropriating the people's culture -- 4. Trademark owners whine, "no making fun of me!" -- 5. The corporate privatization of words -- 6. Property rights in public image -- 7. The theft of the public domain -- 8. Stifling public dialogue through copyright -- 9. The DMCA's attacks on free speech -- 10. The quest for perfect control -- 11. Intellectual property : goes over the top -- 12. Just kidding or dead serious? -- Conclusion : reclaiming the cultural commons.

Abstract:

"In Brand Name Bullies, David Bollier reveals the countless ways in which creativity, innovation, and free expression in American culture are under relentless assault from a new and rapacious breed of corporate bullies. He offers scores of examples of how copyright and trademark owners are using political influence, high-powered attorneys, and out-and-out intimidation to expand their control over our culture."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject Term:

Intellectual property -- United States.

Popular culture -- United States.

Electronic Access:

Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0420/2004015801.html

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168015768712	346.73048 B692 2005	1	Searching... Unknown
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025449188	346.73048 B692 2005	2	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

An impassioned, darkly amusing look at how corporations misuse copyright law to stifle creativity and free speech

If you want to make fun of Mickey or Barbie on your Web site, you may be hearing from some corporate lawyers. You should also think twice about calling something "fair and balanced" or publicly using Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. It may be illegal. Or it may be entirely legal, but the distinction doesn't matter if you can't afford a lawyer. More and more, corporations are grabbing and asserting rights over every idea and creation in our world, regardless of the law's intent or the public interest. But beyond the humorous absurdity of all this, there lies a darker problem, as David Bollier shows in this important new book. Lawsuits and legal bullying clearly prevent the creation of legitimate new software, new art and music, new literature, new businesses, and worst of all, new scientific and medical research.

David Bollier (Amherst, MA) is cofounder of Public Knowledge and Senior Fellow at the Norman Lear Center, USC Annenberg School for Communication. His books include Silent Theft.