Blogging about race, authorship, and law
I once bollixed an interview by not having anything worthwhile to say about the subject of race and intellectual property law. I still don’t think I have much to say, though I can point you to Kevin Greene, who’s doing interesting work about the role of black artists in American copyright law, here and here. His work ties into the cultural appropriation debates on LJ, which have often asked questions about artistic choices. Looking at it from a legal angle increases one’s focus on the material consequences - the empty bank accounts, the records that didn’t go gold, etc. - of appropriation.
As Greene points out, lots of important IP cases have African-American plaintiffs and/or defendants. I’ve been thinking about copyright and gender, and both race and gender matter in the important Supreme Court case Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. 2 Live Crew mocked Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman with a version of their own, and the Supreme Court concluded that the “big hairy woman” in the latter offered parodic commentary on the “pretty woman” in the former. Here’s a question: When you imagine the respective women described in those songs, what race are they? Would it matter to your view of the song if Orbison were singing about a woman of color? Or if 2 Live Crew were singing about a white or Asian woman? (The lyrics mention that she’s got an afro, which is a cultural clue - but then so is 2 Live Crew’s racial composition.)
As Greene points out, lots of important IP cases have African-American plaintiffs and/or defendants. I’ve been thinking about copyright and gender, and both race and gender matter in the important Supreme Court case Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. 2 Live Crew mocked Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman with a version of their own, and the Supreme Court concluded that the “big hairy woman” in the latter offered parodic commentary on the “pretty woman” in the former. Here’s a question: When you imagine the respective women described in those songs, what race are they? Would it matter to your view of the song if Orbison were singing about a woman of color? Or if 2 Live Crew were singing about a white or Asian woman? (The lyrics mention that she’s got an afro, which is a cultural clue - but then so is 2 Live Crew’s racial composition.)