Wednesday, October 29, 2008

deep copyright thought

Reading Jessica Silbey on IP’s gendered assumptions, I can’t help thinking about copyright strike suits (lawsuits filed alleging substantial similarity between an unknown’s work and a major hit): mother’s baby, father’s maybe. When unconscious copying can be infringing, paternity is ever-contestable, and authors are potentially like women impregnated by Zeus in the form of a sunbeam. Talk about the anxiety of influence.

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