Unit 09 Remix Discussion
I am really interested in the TED’s presentation by Larry Lessig. Lessig mainly argues that the massive laws could restrict people’s expression of creativity. Lessig introduces three historical examples to support his argument, which respectively are the talking machine, celestial copyrights, and the ASCAP cartel. For his argument, I think he is right to a certain extent. I also feel that sometimes the too much limits of laws could restraint people’s creativity. For instance, someone want to change an existing song and to create a new song but maybe he would violate the copyright of the original author unwittingly. Therefore, he have to stop his creation. However, although the laws could limit the creativity, we still cannot live without laws. If our society do not have the laws of copyrights, how can we protect the copyright of creators? If anyone could use the original artworks that created by others without any limitation, the original creators could feel disappointed and they would not have enough motivation to continue creating artworks. I think the copyright regulations should remain unchanged in the developed countries because their laws of copyrights are enough to protect original creators. In contrast, I think the copyright regulations should be strengthened in the developing countries, like China because the benefits of original creators in these countries do not have enough protection.
Beichen Fu, I too was amused by the TED talk by Lawrence Lessig, as he was very aspiring and had well structured arguments. I also agree with your argument and stance on the copyright laws. Laws such as copyrighting is what protects people from their original ideas and credits the original creators. I’m not sure what the copyright laws in foreign countries are, but I would say that no matter the laws of different culture, no one should lose credit for an original art piece. Alternatively I do understand the controversy of the argument in this situation of expanding ones creativity by altering an art piece that amuses them. May it be a song or a filmography, I understand that people, especially today, are more than creative with the technology programs that we have today to create something creative. I for one admire expanding others horizons on the potential of their work, but as long the original creator would be compensated.
Beichen,
Like you, I agreed that the copyright laws should be unchanged. I actually mentioned in my post as well that if the laws are too relaxed, it could reduce creativity because people would feel that their work is going to be taken by someone else. That is why I was torn between what Lawrence Lessig was discussing during his Ted talk. I think there should be an optimal point where we foster creativity while still protecting the artists’ work. I find it very interesting how you brought up the difference between the copyright laws in China and the US. Before reading your post, I had never taken the time to consider that copyright laws would vary from country to country. Do you think that in order to protect artists, while still promoting creativity, there should be common copyright laws between countries?
Hi, Beichen. I think your post is really interesting and provoking to me. I totally agree with you that the future change of copyright regulations should depend on the different situation of development in different countries. I also is a Chinese student so I understand the situation in China. The majority of Chinese have used to download free resources from the Internet so they do not care about the copyright and just choose the most economical way in the life. Therefore, I agree with you that the government should enhance the education of copyright to the Chinese citizen to make them to realize the importance of copyright. The construction of copyright laws is the most important thing for China now rather than to think about if the copyright regulation could limit the creativity.