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I think some friends and family wonder why I am so enthralled by copyright law. Others may also wonder how it applies to my wider interest in technology law. For some time, I wasn’t quite sure myself. Indeed, over the past few years I’ve sometimes found myself discouraged by the seemingly wonky nature of the subject. Looking back, for example, at my grandfather’s legal career in civil rights, I wondered if I was being too selfish with my interests.
I’ve recently come to understand that this isn’t the case, that copyright law (and its reform) is an important matter for the American public to understand and discuss. Why? Because copyright presents a fundamental conflict between capitalism (or, profit) and freedom of speech, with nothing less than the fate of our creative culture at stake. The way we go about resolving this conflict says much about America as a liberal democracy and cultural leader in the world. And right now, we’re not doing so hot.
