I spent the day yesterday with 100 members of academia at a symposium on copyright. (I guarantee you my colleague Jim's breathing will tighten when he reads that sentence.) The University of Maryland organizers at their Center for Intellectual Property in the Digital Environment were kind enough to let me speak on a panel on P2P, joined by RIAA's Linda Zirkelbach, Penn State Professor Matt Jackson and precocious Harvard undergraduate (is there any other kind?) Matthew Gline (more in this incredible kid in a moment). Moderator Robert Brauneis of GWU knows enough on the subject to have taken the entire 90 minutes for himself, but he did the generous moderator thing and let us have the microphones.

I enjoyed the panel, but I enjoyed even more spending the day there and meeting some of the attendees. By and large they were university librarians or administrators, with the occasional general counsel sprinkled in. Here in Washington we argue abstract copyright issues at seminars, in Hill testimony, over cocktails at receptions, but these folks struggle with real-life copyright issues every day.

Granted, a lot of it is from the use perspective -- can students splice parts of that film into a classroom presentation without seeking permission? To what extent can that professor make free digital copies of books available to her students? But they also approach it from a creators' rights perspective as well. One woman told our panel that her university library holds the only surviving recordings of certain artists, and when The Dave Matthews Band repurposed one of those recordings without permission, her university sued.

I felt very comfortable in this crowd of real people hoping for real solutions to copyright dilemmas. In my own presentation, I did as I often do -- I focused on the rights of creators. The icon the conference used showed a "Thinker"-like figure wearing a bandana and eye patch holding a scale. On one plate was a family, and on the other was a copyright symbol. I said I don't see the debate this way. Instead of an arbitrary copyright symbol, I see people on both sides, with the copyright side being individual creators. (The keynote speaker, a computer scientist named Clifford Lynch, gave an hour-long address in which the only time he referred to any intellectual property owner it was to say they were "behaving badly" for not giving away their property, but most of the conference was more balanced.)

I think focusing on artists helps find a middle ground in this debate, because while it's easy for some to demonize a large company or trade association, I believe it's more difficult to demonize an individual. (For that reason, I held up an advance copy of my mom's latest paperback, to humanize artists even more. Yes, I know, Larry Lessig makes arguments through anecdote and that drives me nuts, but I indulged here anyway.)

I thought our entire panel was balanced. Linda, of course, did a commendable job outlining why the recording industry feels the need to sue uploaders. Jackson said he supported those suits, but also made clear he sympathizes with file sharers, and emphasized in the Dave Matthews example that he favors the right to remix works over the rights of the original artist. (I disagreed with him on that one, saying as a former journalist I know there's a difference between inspiration and plagiarism, and I saw a lot of heads nodding in agreement in the audience.)

Young Gline was the surprise of the panel. He went first, and was witty, charming, and extremely articulate and well-thought in his arguments. (I had the misfortune of following him, not good.) In talking with him after the discussion and at a later dinner for speakers, it became clear he is not like many young foot soldiers in the Copyleft Army. He is quick to throw out ideas, and when they're rebutted he comes out with new ones.

He's a physics major, of all things, but that could change. If it does, it won't be good for us at PFF. He's a disciple of Larry Lessig, and at the speaker's dinner, I saw Gigi Sohn working him hard. (Unfortunately Gigi speaks today and I'm missing it, but I've seen her speak dozens of times and I know she'll be great as always. She also missed my presentation but it was nice to see her at dinner. And I received another example of how one wouldn't wish to get on her bad side -- our waitress gave her meal to someone at another table, an unwise move considering Gigi had missed lunch. Gigi was of course civil as always, but she didn't hide her displeasure, and the waitress made quick work of getting her a new meal.)

I must give a shout-out to Kim Kelley, Kim Bonner, Olga Francois and Jack Boeve at the CIP for an excellent conference. Who would have thought that just by crossing the D.C. border into Maryland, I could leave the superficial debates that permeate this town and find myself in an environment of significantly more substantive and constructive dialogue?

posted by Patrick Ross @ 8:40 AM | Academia

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment(0)