Just whose idea is it anyway? Not everyone seems to have noticed, but it's clear we recently zipped past the "information economy" and straight into the "copyright economy." It's no longer about access to information ? everyone has access. Now it's about ownership of the characters, stories, tunes, trademarks, software and other ephemera of our daily lives. If serfdom returns to L.A., we won't end up as peons working on other people's landed estates ? no, the great dynasties of the future may be built on cartoon characters.
Not surprisingly, thanks to this little shift in the economy, a new sport has arisen in the land. It's called "extreme copyright," and the people who play this game are the ones who have me worried.
In extreme copyright, you try to push the limits of what intellectual property can be owned and controlled ? or you try to penalize those who seem to have pushed the envelope a little too far. [...]
On the trademark side, people try to register phrases such as "fair and balanced" or protect a single word, such as "Spike." Marvel and DC Comics may sue you if you misuse the word "superhero," which they ? yes ? trademarked in 1979.
