Literature, art, computer code, social media, news, music and video games–copyright underpins almost everything we read or hear. But it is not an old idea. Why was it invented? For whose benefit? What is a “work” or an “author”? Is copyright still relevant, or is a new framework needed? From Balzac and Dickens to Facebook, from Bizet to Broadway musicals, this new course invites students to think about the philosophical and cultural issues raised by copyright in the past and present–and for the future. Taught jointly by a professor of Comparative Literature and a practicing intellectual property lawyer; for students in all disciplines.
