
Authors, Users, and Pirates
Copyright Law and Subjectivity
James Meese(Author)
MIT Press
Published on 31. October 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-0-262-54965-3 (ISBN)
Description
An examination of subjectivity in copyright law, analyzing authors, users, and pirates through a relational framework.
In current debates over copyright law, the author, the user, and the pirate are almost always invoked. Some in the creative industries call for more legal protection for authors; activists and academics promote user rights and user-generated content; and online pirates openly challenge the strict enforcement of copyright law. In this book, James Meese offers a new way to think about these three central subjects of copyright law, proposing a relational framework that encompasses all three. Meese views authors, users, and pirates as interconnected subjects, analyzing them as a relational triad. He argues that addressing the relationships among the three subjects will shed light on how the key conceptual underpinnings of copyright law are justified in practice.
Meese presents a series of historical and contemporary examples, from nineteenth-century cases of book abridgement to recent controversies over the reuse of Instagram photos. He not only considers the author, user, and pirate in terms of copyright law, but also explores the experiential element of subjectivity—how people understand and construct their own subjectivity in relation to these three subject positions. Meese maps the emergence of the author, user, and pirate over the first two centuries of copyright's existence; describes how regulation and technological limitations turned people from creators to consumers; considers relational authorship; explores practices in sampling, music licensing, and contemporary art; examines provisions in copyright law for user-generated content; and reimagines the pirate as an innovator.
In current debates over copyright law, the author, the user, and the pirate are almost always invoked. Some in the creative industries call for more legal protection for authors; activists and academics promote user rights and user-generated content; and online pirates openly challenge the strict enforcement of copyright law. In this book, James Meese offers a new way to think about these three central subjects of copyright law, proposing a relational framework that encompasses all three. Meese views authors, users, and pirates as interconnected subjects, analyzing them as a relational triad. He argues that addressing the relationships among the three subjects will shed light on how the key conceptual underpinnings of copyright law are justified in practice.
Meese presents a series of historical and contemporary examples, from nineteenth-century cases of book abridgement to recent controversies over the reuse of Instagram photos. He not only considers the author, user, and pirate in terms of copyright law, but also explores the experiential element of subjectivity—how people understand and construct their own subjectivity in relation to these three subject positions. Meese maps the emergence of the author, user, and pirate over the first two centuries of copyright's existence; describes how regulation and technological limitations turned people from creators to consumers; considers relational authorship; explores practices in sampling, music licensing, and contemporary art; examines provisions in copyright law for user-generated content; and reimagines the pirate as an innovator.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge (Massachusetts)
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
12 B&W ILLUS.
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
396 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-262-54965-3 (9780262549653)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
02/2018
MIT Press
€33.99
Available for download
Person
James Meese
Content
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Copyright Law and Subjectivity— A Relational Approach 1
1 Connected Origins: Locating Relationality in Copyright History 21
2 From the Piratical to the Creative User 39
3 Creative Practice and Relational Authorship 61
4 Locating the User and Reforming Law 85
5 Reimagining the Pirate: Approaching Infringement Relationally 111
6 Producing the Pirate: The Courtroom and Cultural Power 131
Conclusion 155
Notes 163
Bibliography 205
Index 221
Introduction: Copyright Law and Subjectivity— A Relational Approach 1
1 Connected Origins: Locating Relationality in Copyright History 21
2 From the Piratical to the Creative User 39
3 Creative Practice and Relational Authorship 61
4 Locating the User and Reforming Law 85
5 Reimagining the Pirate: Approaching Infringement Relationally 111
6 Producing the Pirate: The Courtroom and Cultural Power 131
Conclusion 155
Notes 163
Bibliography 205
Index 221