ELI2011 Podcast: How To Fix Copyright

Due to the changes wrought by digital technology and the Internet, ordinary people are becoming authors, publishers, and, less appealingly, potential infringers on a massive scale. The confluence of technological changes with a rapid expansion in the scope of copyright law has unwittingly made us a "nation of infringers" by virtue of the daily activities we engage in that, if done in the analog world, wouldn't raise an eyebrow. The problems we face are structural, reaching to the very core of copyright. Humpty-Dumpy can't be put back together; a new structure must be built. That structure should be based on 21st-century technology and markets. The new structure must provide contemporary solutions to getting authors paid and giving the public access to works of authorship. This session by William Patry, Senior Copyright Counsel for Google, offers some ideas for how to fix copyright. Streaming video of this session is also available.