Written on the occasion of copyright's 300th anniversary, John Tehranian's Infringement Nation presents an engaging and accessible analysis of the history and evolution of copyright law and its profound impact on the lives of ordinary individuals in the twenty-first century. Organized around the trope of the individual in five different copyright-related contexts - as an infringer, transformer, pure user, creator and reformer - the book charts the changing contours of our copyright regime and assesses its vitality in the digital age. In the process, Tehranian questions some of our most basic assumptions about copyright law by highlighting the unseemly amount of infringement liability an average person rings up in a single day, the counterintuitive role of the fair use doctrine in radically expanding the copyright monopoly, the important expressive interests at play in even the unauthorized use of copyright works, the surprisingly low level of protection that American copyright law grants many creators, and the broader political import of copyright law on the exertion of social regulation and control.
Drawing upon both theory and the author's own experiences representing clients in various high-profile copyright infringement suits, Tehranian supports his arguments with a rich array of diverse examples crossing various subject matters - from the unusual origins of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the question of numeracy among Amazonian hunter-gatherers, the history of stand-offs at papal nunciatures, and the tradition of judicial plagiarism to contemplations on Slash's criminal record, Barbie's retrousse nose, the poisonous tomato, flag burning, music as a form of torture, the smell of rotting film, William Shakespeare as a man of the people, Charles Dickens as a lobbyist, Ashley Wilkes's sexual orientation, Captain Kirk's reincarnation, and Holden Caulfield's maturation. In the end, Infringement Nation makes a sophisticated yet lucid case for reform of existing doctrine and the development of a copyright 2.0.
Industry Reviews
"Could you be committing $4.5 billion in copyright infringements every year? John Tehranian's witty, engaging book suggests that the answer might be yes, and explains why the fault lies not with you, but with the copyright laws."
--Mark A. Lemley
William H. Neukom Professor, Stanford Law School
"Somewhere along the line copyright became a law everyone breaks. Why that happened and what might be done is the topic of this lively and thoughtful work. Highly recommended."
--Tim Wu
Author of Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
"Professor Tehranian examines how the current copyright regime too often undermines the place of the individual in the cultural landscape, through subtle motions in policy and precedent. In an era when people routinely illustrate their sense of self with collections of quotes or streaming music on online profiles, Tehranian issues a call for a productive re-evaluation of the effect of copyright law, not just by industry, but by individuals themselves."
--Jonathan Zittrain
Professor of Law and Professor of Computer Science, Harvard University
"Infringement Nation makes a compelling case for reforming existing doctrine and the development of a copyright 2.0 and would make an excellent addition to the reading list of any course on copyright law." --Brooklyn Law School Library Blog
"Tehranian presents an insightful critique of the copyright regime, including its underappreciation of non-transformative works and its hierarchy of protection that privileges sophisticated, repeat players. The book concludes with suggested reforms that might restore the copyright regime to its role as a stimulator of creativity. Infringement Nation offers unique insight into the perils of a future in which harsh sanctions and overbroad infringement claims
continue to diverge from societal norms, and makes a convincing case for immediate reform of the copyright regime."
--Harvard Law Review
