Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity

Rating:
Summary: Readable, enjoyable discussion of the issues
Review: Vaidyanathan clearly has some opinions on the topics he discusses. Since I don't have much experience with the history of copyright, I don't know how objective this book is.

That said, it's a terrifically readable book. I took it with me on a plane trip, and hardly even noticed the flight time! Vaidyanathan paints a clear picture of how copyright developed from early efforts of publishers and writers in England, through Samuel Clemens' fascinating manipulations, to the current state of US and international copyright law.

Vaidyanathan is of the view that the original intentions of copyright, to make "ideas" available to the public at low cost once the author has had a decent chance to make money off them, have been subverted over the years. The current restrictive rules, he argues, maximize profit to the author (or more usually, the publisher), and abuse the rights of the general public to access information and ideas.

It's a fascinating book.