Copy This Book!: What Data Tells Us about Copyright and the Public Good

by Paul Heald

In Copy This Book!, Paul J. Heald draws on a vast knowledge of copyright scholarship and a deep sense of irony to explain what's gone wrong with copyright in the twenty-first century. Heald gathers extensive empirical data and clearly distills the implications of copyright laws and doctrine for public welfare. Along the way, he illustrates his findings with lighthearted references to familiar (and obscure) works and their creators (and sometimes their creators' oddball relations). Among the questions he tackles: Why are more books in print from the 1880s than the 1980s? How does copyright deter composers from writing new songs? Why are so many famous photographs unprotected orphans, and how does Getty Images get away with licensing them? What can the use of music in movies tell us about the proper length of the copyright term? How does copyright deter the production of audio books? How do publishers get away with claiming rights in public domain works and extracting unmerited royalties from the public? Heald translates piles of data, complex laws, and mysterious economics, equipping readers with the tools for judging the wisdom of past and future copyright law.

Genres: Law

200 pages, Paperback

Published November 24, 2020

About the author

Paul started writing fiction in college but quit when he discovered that he had nothing interesting to say. So, he fled graduate school for Madrid on the eve of the tumultuous first election since Franco seized power. He taught English in Spain and then at Florida A & M University, an historically African-American college, before going to law school. He clerked for the Hon. Frank M. Johnson, Jr. (played by Martin Sheen in the movie Selma) and began teaching copyright law at the University of Georgia. For several years, all creative energy was channeled into dozens of articles on intellectual property law and thousands of scurrilous emails. The publication in October 2014 of Death in Eden marked the first installment in a series of books whose characters will find themselves wandering the lovely tree-lined streets of Clarkeston, Georgia.
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When he is not writing, Paul sings vaguely on pitch with various groups and teaches copyright at the University of Illinois. He is a member of the Red Herring fiction workshop, and his wife, Jill Crandall, directs the well-known women's chorus, Amasong

The first editions of Death in Eden, Cotton, and Courting Death were published by Yucca Publishing, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing. Paul is represented by Peter Riva of International Transactions, Inc.