As I was thinking more about property rights and The Public Domain I was reminded of a discussion that James Boyle brought up. I have mentioned before in my blog about the creation process and how we build upon the past. It is important to use methods of consume to led to the create process. However, there are certain questions that must be brought to the consume process. James Boyle states that all creators, whether it is in music, art, science, or media, need incentive. If the incentive is gone then why would they want to create? The incentive is usually money.
If a book is just going to be published online, no charge, why would people want to purchase it? And if there are no sales then the author receives no royalties, and no incentive to create. Same goes with music and movies or even company logos. We need to have some rules and laws that regulate the use of ideas. However, that does bring up the other side of the argument of when it these laws taking it too far? A piece of art should be enjoyed by all, right? Just as books are meant to be read. We are moving towards being more digital. Books are more readily available online. There are sites such as fan fiction that people can publish their own stories but it is using someone else’s ideas.
Should this be allowed? How hard should the public push for a more digital culture? There needs to be a balance between the public domain and intellectual property. But where is that line? James Boyle makes some really good arguments and I am trying to filter through them all. I hope I made sense. What are everyone else’s thoughts?
That was the original intent of the copyright laws. They are to protect and provide incentive for artists to create. Unfortunately, large companies are taking it to various extremes and suffocate the ideas of those who wish to expand on an idea. The great thing about remixing is that you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time. I think that this also can provide incentive for creative processes because other people's ideas can spark your own. It isn't an easy answer, but how to do this is a very important question.
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