This essay discusses the history and development of copyright, as well as the social definition for arts and knowledge. As there is no definite boundary between copying and original, the effectiveness of copyright laws is given by the mainstream social perception of certain periods, and thus alters as time changes.
Lethem starts from discussing how art is created by the artists, arguing that artists create from existing works of others, reinterpreting and recreating them from their unique perspectives. In this understanding, everyone is the author, in that our understanding towards the work, either an art piece or an article, can never be identical to anyone else. Moreover, as words are translated into different languages and circulate around the globe, their meanings are likely to change overtime. And even, when the words are borrowed by some famous authors, or who became famous author later, their original author is likely to be forgotten.
Then, what effect does copyright serves? As Lethem mentioned, it is “an ongoing social negotiation” (63). However, in older time, copyright is much more strictly defined. According to Lethem, “every creative act in a tangible medium is now subject to copyright protection” (63). Then every thing we do is subjected to copyright law. This restrict definition certainly won’t be sustainable, as digital technology develops rapidly challenge the possibility of human creations.
The author also discuss about how gift can not be fairly measured by money as an economic product. This is because the value of the arts produced by artists’ gift can not be evaluated according to a definite standard. In fact, as every one of us has different understandings towards such arts, our experiences and gains from them also varies. As the example given by the author, we all pay for fee to get ticket for museums or concerts, but the art we experience has nothing to do with price. After all, what we gain from them are subjective to individuals, largely determined by our believes and values.
However, as the market commercializes any product that enters, arts are bind with fixed price. Lethem considers this as an abuse, as he believes that arts should be public commons which “is not possessed by anyone, not even the society as a whole”. I find it interesting to investigate the market forces behind the creation of arts. Using a current phenomenon as an example, that new media exhibitions are popping up everywhere and becoming increasingly popular. Even in commercial malls, they are easily seen. People pay decently for the ticket to enter those exhibitions, interact with the project for just a few minutes, and spend most of their time taking social media worthy pictures. Reflecting on this situation, then, does it implies that, new media exhibitions are commercialized and actually become a business product for consumption? What effects do tickets’ prices exert on new media art, or art in general?
Lastly, Lethem discusses the contemporary copyright. He regards that “copyright today is not used to reward the labor of authors but to promote the progress of science and useful arts”. The current environment for copyright is becoming more flexible, defining copyright as the right for the original author to freely interpret his/her own work, without banning others’ from accessing or referring them. As long as the copyright holder agrees, others can make use of his/her work in certain proper ways. There is also a rising culture of open-source and remix, where people are allowed to use existing works without even citing the original authors. This lies in accordance to the social definition towards create. As we commonly perceive nowadays, as long as the idea is refreshed or renewed, even it is simply a process of interpretation or documentation, it is a kind of creation. The more inviting environment will certainly generate more innovative ideas and creations, but, as Lethem states, one of the problem of current copyright laws lies in corruptions. Therefore, finding an effective supervising approach and striking a balance between recognizing original contributors and encouraging later creators or recreations are essentially important.