Intellectual Property

Prompt: The commonsense idea behind intellectual property rights is that idea that people ought to be able to reap the rewards for their creativity. Our thinking about this usually centers around the image of an
individual author, a creative genius. Using the Stahl and Sunder readings, discuss why the actual social organization of media production makes it complicated to have an intellectual property system that meets
our sense of fairness.
The two SOURCES that you need to use:
1. Matt Stahl, Unfree Masters: Recording Artists and the Politics of Work, selections.
2. Madhavi Sunder, From Goods to a Good Life: Intellectual Property and Global Justice, Ch. 6: Bollywood/Hollywood
Related class NOTES:
-Distinctive Elements of Intellectual Property
>Limited terms: intended to promote competition
(think copyrights and government monopoly)
>Distinction between ideas and expression
(copyrights only apply to the expression of idea instead of idea as itself)
>Fair use:
(2 questions to identify: nature of media products & Purpose of use)
(Media products as public goods – “non-rivalrous in consumption” – one person’s use doesn’t affect author’s use)