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THE COPYRIGHT WARS

Name: THE COPYRIGHT WARS
Author: Peter Baldwin
ISBN: 978-0-691-16182-2

THREE CENTURIES OF TRANS-ATLANTIC BATTLE

by Peter Baldwin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2014

Scholarly but accessible and lucid; essential for students of modern intellectual property law and of much interest to a...

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A thoroughgoing survey of copyright, intellectual property and other thorny legal issues of the age of information.

Generally, problems of copyright are first-world problems—and problems they are, if often manifested in incremental ways. Remember, for instance, the battle over colorizing classic black-and-white films a couple of decades ago? As Baldwin (History/UCLA; The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How America and Europe Are Alike, 2009, etc.) notes, the issue hinged less on aesthetics than the wishes of the producers—that is, the studios and corporations that owned adaptation rights—to reauthorize copyright. This was easier to accomplish in the corporation-friendly “Anglo-Saxon world” than in Europe “because the film copyright owner tended to be the corporation that made it, not the director.” This explains the growing clout-wielding of corporations. Baldwin coherently covers the distinctions among economic rights and “moral” rights, the latter of which have been more difficult to establish, and he examines these rights against the background of a variety of legal traditions—surprisingly among them that of Nazi Germany, which placed a premium on “spiritual values above modern materialism” and gave unusually comprehensive protection to authors (non-Jewish authors, anyway). Baldwin’s discussion of contending traditions and rights carries over into exquisitely latter-day concerns, especially the ever more common question of plagiarism, which, he says, is “increasingly seen as a mere peccadillo”—unless, of course, it’s the intellectual property of the big corporations that is being ripped off. Ironically, as he observes, though the right to ownership of such property is enshrined in this country, it has been extended again and again against the intentions of the Founders, who saw it as being of limited duration against the common good of the “educational aspirations of a fledgling democracy.”

Scholarly but accessible and lucid; essential for students of modern intellectual property law and of much interest to a wide audience of writers, journalists, publishers and “content creators.”

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-691-16182-2

Page Count: 560

Publisher: Princeton Univ.

Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.