Bound by Law?: Tales from the Public Domain

by Keith Aoki, James Boyle, Jennifer Jenkins

A lighthearted and practical history for artists on the challenges imposed by corporate copyright holders follows the story of a young filmmaker who finds herself embroiled in complicated copyright restrictions before learning from the examples of other artists who fought against the system to reassert a hold over the public domain. Original.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Nonfiction, Law, School, Legal, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2006

Reviews

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting if not entirely successful use of the comics medium to provide readers with a lot of very useful information about copyright law as it pertains to fair use when making documentary film. The key legal stuff is there, wrapped up in a somewhat amusing narrative that draws on tropes from EC horror comics (a take on the Crypt Keeper introduces and closes it out), among others. Especially interesting is how the book's own use of copyrighted materials demonstrates fair use in practice. The art is functional but unexceptional; though there are some effective and amusing pages, there are also some that are a bit hard to follow, as they are not designed well. Nevertheless, this is an accessible, useful guide to important copyright questions--and it can be downloaded for free.

[Hákon Gunnarsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This free comic book doesn’t have the most thrilling plot, but it was a good read anyway. Three professors of law at Duke present information about public domain in a short comic book. I find it very interesting. The art may not be the greatest I’ve seen, but it’s definitely not the worst, and it is often quite funny. The Tales from the Crypt like beginning for example is a nice comic touch. Probably not for the mainstream comic book enthusiast, but for those interested in copyright it is definitly worst a read.

[Anne Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

The information presented in this book is great, but comics require compelling art and consistent narrative style. This is a good idea for a book, but not a very good book.

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most interesting way I've ever read about copyright.

[tony dillard jr · Rating 3 out of 5]

2024 will be known as a banner year for copyright law. After numerous lawsuits, at least one successful law change, and decades of anticipation, the character of Mickey Mouse finally entered the public domain. But don't go running out to buy supplies to make your long dreamed Mickey Mouse murder mystery musical just yet. Only the earliest version of the mouse is available for public use. You can do that Broadway show as long as you use the Steamboat Willie version of Walt Disney's most famous creation.

Every year, the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain releases a list of properties coming to the public domain. Along with Mickey, 2024 sees Virginia Woolf's Orlando, the jazzy tune Mack the Knife and the first screen appearance of comedy duo Laurel and Hardy are among the works losing some sort of artistic protections. Yet why is it that it took nearly a century for these properties to become public domain works when George Romeo's Night of the Living Dead has been in the realm of free use for decades and that classic zombie film is less than 60 years old?

The answer all has to do with if and when the artists involved in the creation of their works applied for a copyright. Sometimes, an artist just forgets to apply for one, making their work literally free for anyone else to copy off of. Or, maybe law at that time wasn't protective enough. Several amendments to the first US copyright protection act that occurred in 1790 have been enacted in the past century alone. Our forefathers couldn't have foreseen changes in technology such as video home recorders, streaming services or artificial intelligence which have all warranted some additional tweaking to copyright law. Other times, an agreement between artists is broken or misused, resulting in the loss of creative rights to a work as was part of the case behind the original prints of Romero's magnum opus becoming a public domain work.

Durham, North Carolina's Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke University seeks to examine all areas of copyright law and free use. Free use is a protection for consumers such as myself, which allows me to make my reviews of comics and graphic novels without fear of having to pay a fee or being sued. I'm allowed under free use to use minuscule snippets of the books I review as long as my posts are being used for critique. I'm also protected to say that such and such work 'stunk' as long as I am being objective to my own thoughts and not stating that it's 100% indisputable for the work's lack of quality.

Mind you that my understanding of copyright law is rudimentary at best. I read Duke's first graphic novel on public domain and free use and I still don't have a clear understanding of it. One thing I do know is that research is needed to clear anything being created artistically for money. Something as small as a ring tone in the background of a scene of a documentary could result in licensing fees that could be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Plus, just because you had a licensing agreement for background music when your film was released in 2010, don't expect to be able to use it for the 25th anniversary re-release in 2035!

Copyright law is extremely fickle. A generation ago, the laws were in the favor of the utilizer of others' works. Presently, the law has swung out of reach of the original artist and now more into the realm of the production companies that own the rights to the work. Though with the release of films like Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and the forthcoming Mickey's Mouse Trap, the new trend of copyright protection might be in the hands of the independent producer of horror and macabre. That's because creators such as A.A. Milne clearly had no ill intent in development of their characters and thus a horror version of such innocents can be interpreted as a parody.

Tales From the Public Domain: Bound by Law? was co-written by Jennifer Jenkins, the mastermind behind Duke's annual Public Domain Day press releases we see in the days leading up to New Year's Day. Jenkins' writing partner is Scottish intellectual property scholar James Boyle, who also works at the Center of Public Domain. Illustrations were by illustrator and law professor Keith Aoki with black and white photos all used under free use law protections.

The Center of Public Domain had plans for a series of graphic novels based on copyright law. Tales From the Public Domain: Theft; A History of Music was the follow-up to this book. Keith Aoki had begun preliminary sketches for the book before ultimately passing from a lengthy illness in 2011. Theft's 2016 release was dedicated to Professor Aoki's memory.

[Katie O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's a collage artist or filmmaker to do about Public Domain and image copyright? Read this comic book and learn about Fair Use. Sure, you can hire a lawyer (well, maybe you should anyway if real commerce is involved) or study journal articles, but you should at least start by reading this. Sure, read it for the clever (artistic and legal) content as well as the real-life context of how and why artists work and their cumulative impact on society-wide rules of (artistic) engagement. But don't forget to enjoy and be impressed by how deeply and seamlessly this format (good old comic book and graphic novel structures and patterns) expands to convey what some might otherwise find to be dry material. Holy Boredom Busters! Kapow!

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors, professors at Duke University, explain in the afterword they wanted to make comprehensible to audiences who might not be filled with the yen to read legal journals. Hence this book, a graphic novel in which a documentary filmmaker learns the difference between copyright (she has lots of background noises and images that are covered by fair use) and "permissions culture" (creators' assumption that if you use even a smidgen of their work, they're entitled to $). The art isn't great (though it is at times quite clever) but they do a great job making the topic accessible (even to me and I've read quite a bit about copyright). Available online for free.

[Anjan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the first of two comic books in print from the "Duke Center for the Public Domain". I'd read it second, after "Theft: a History of music," unless you happen to be a Documentary Filmmaker and want a cursory overview of your rights and obligations. This book is an overview of Copyright law through the eyes of a documentary film maker effected by copyright and trade mark laws.

But really, you should check out the second book first. You can find both for free online, so it's just a question of how much time you have.

[Benjamin Jacobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on the copyright debate. It was well presented and understandable and their final conclusion, that we should be heading toward an ecological view of copyright, rang true. The art (it's a comic book) is not super polished, but is sufficient for understanding. The form is a bit haphazard, sometimes a lecture, sometimes a narrative, but no many have figured out the non-fiction comic form.

[Magdalyn H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

honestly, the page compositions were all feasts for the eyes, the story/premise setup itself was really charming and so was the illustration style, and it really motivated me to watch more documentaries, which i appreciated the most. i would recommend!

[JV Austen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came to this because of a podcast from Planet Money - the ones in which they are trying to buy/create/reboot a comic book hero. This comic delves into the very complicated world of fair use. Don't worry, the authors are well-qualified and (mostly) bring it down to an understandable level.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the message and the approach but it felt a bit repetitive. A decent primer on the subject but I would have liked it to have delved a little deeper on the topic.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really informative. I like that the information was put into graphic novel form - it made this complicated topic a bit easier to understand.

[Jiewei Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks, Duke Law. Not super relevant to the doc, but interesting.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems appropriate that the first image you see when you open this work is reminiscent of the Crypt Keeper. After all, the topic is something most people fear -- law. In fact, the specific area, copyright law, even causes the knees of some lawyers to quake.[return][return] Bound by Law? is a comic book (or graphic novel if you prefer) issued by the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School. It seeks to explain to the layperson two of the thornier issues in modern copyright law for writers, musicians, artists and filmmakers.[return][return]Basically, the work (written by James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins and illustrated by Keith Aoki) uses a documentary filmmaker to examine the impact of the doctrines of "public domain" and "fair use." The public domain is comprised of material on which copyright never existed or has expired and, hence, can be freely used by the public at large. Fair use is a statutory exception to the copyright laws that allows use of portions of copyrighted material for a variety of purposes as long as the use doesn't exceed the boundaries of a four-factor test the law establishes.[return][return]Why a comic book and a focus on documentary filmmaking? Because they are excellent vehicles for exploring the issues.[return][return]Balance of review at http://prairieprogressive.com/?p=681

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It's as if we were zoning an environment of the mind. Who would want to do without roads and parks?"

This comic book is an accessible & informative introduction to copyright issues that confront documentarians and artists in general. According to the bright minds at Duke University's Center for the Study of the Public Domain, who masterminded this book, the "roads and parks" of the public domain are in endangered by a growing rights culture that threatens free expression. The book offers lots of interesting real-life examples about how documentaries have been changed or scrapped to accommodate or avoid copyright infringement claims.

This is a great book for anyone from the zine-making teen to the third year law student taking Intellectual Property. However, the visual flow was not awesome--I read a lot of comic books, but still had trouble following the order of the speech balloons at times. Also, I got the impression that the artist made an across-the-board decision to depict every judge referred to in the text as an angry white man. Which is weird--because Judge Joe Billy McDade of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois is very definitely African American (see p. 49 of the comic book). Also, I'm not sure how portraying judges as angry and vindictive is supposed to promote respect for the rule of law, which is one of the authors' goals outlined in the afterword. Anyway, overall, this comic book is awesome, and anybody who likes documentaries, art, or law should take a look at it.

[Shanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really awesome comic book about intellectual property law.

[Mills College Library]

346.73048 A638 2008

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to read this for class, so bloody bad AUGH

[Monica St. Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very clear. Gets the point across without being preachy.

[Cynthia Vana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever way to present what could be pretty pedantic reading -- case studies and legal stuff on "grey" (as well as "shady") areas of publishing and usage rights. Fun and very insightful.