The Future of Creative Control in the Digital Age

Abstract

From p. 1: "We need to be start by asking some larger questions, such as: What levels of copyright protection are truly needed, as an empirical matter, to reward artists sufficiently to assure a steady supply of their work? And just who do we mean by 'artists' anyway? Just the familiar stars who make the big bucks -- or the far larger cohort of talented individuals who are trying to make a living from their creativity – or the corporations that buy, own and market this creativity? As part of this inquiry, we also need to begin to revisit the 'cultural bargain' that constitutes copyright. If the public, through its representatives in Congress, is going to be in the business of granting exclusive property rights, what is it getting in return? How can we assure that ordinary people can have access and use of copyrighted works through the kind of 'information commons' that any democratic society needs?"