“The Empire of IP”: How Did We Get Here? (talking history of copyright with David Bellos and Alexandre Montagu)

Copyright has become a tool for privatizing everything — the opposite of what it was designed to do when it was invented in the eighteenth century to protect published works. In their book Who Owns This Sentence? A History of Copyrights and Wrongs (Penguin Random House, 2024), Princeton professors David Bellos and Alexandre Montagu provide a lively account of that turnaround, to the point where “the bulk of American culture is in copyright prison,” the world’s largest companies earn their revenue from intellectual property, and creative rights to everything from wallpaper, computer code, choreography, a “vibe” or a banana costume can be disputed, claimed and monetized. Join Vass and Paul for this engaging tag team with David and Alexandre as they discuss both historical and contemporary examples of the power of copyright and where we might be headed with new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence.

Mentioned:

• Statute of Anne of 1710: www.copyrighthistory.com/anne.html
• Landmark copyright case, Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. 499 US 340 (1991)
• Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17): www.copyright.gov/title17/
• “Fair use in America simply means the right to hire a lawyer to defend your right to create”: Lawrence Lessig in Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity (Penguin Random House, 2005, chapter 12)
• TRIPS Agreement: www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/intel2_e.htm
• Berne Convention of 1886: www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/
• Copyright Act (RSC 1985, c C-42): https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-42/Index.html

Further Reading: 

• David Bellos and Alexandre Montagu, Who Owns This Sentence? A History of Copyrights and Wrongs (Penguin Random House, 2024)
• Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity (Penguin Random House, 2005)
• Katy Waldman, “Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story?” (The New Yorker, January 6, 2025)
• CBC Arts, “Court tosses out another Da Vinci Code plagiarism case” (CBC, November 13, 2006)
• Associated Press: “Media Talk; Dustin Hoffman Loses Appeals Court Case” (The New York Times, July 9, 2001)
• Racheal Muldoon and Mark Bailey: “Getty v Stability AI: A ‘tantalising glance’ of what’s to come for AI firms and creators” (Charles Russell Speechlys, January 16, 2025)
• Kari Paul, “Court of a-peel: nasty split over banana costume leads to legal monkey business” (The Guardian, August 1, 2019)

Show Notes:

• More on copyright history, current questions around legislation, and rights of publicity: BBC Arts & Ideas podcast, “Dickens, Disney and copyright” (with guests David Bellos, Katie McGettigan and Hayleigh Bosher; December 21, 2023)
• On Creative Commons movement and Wikipedia: Creative Commons, “Celebrating 20 Years of CC Licenses — Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig” (YouTube, April 6, 2022)

Credits:
Policy Prompt is produced by Vass Bednar and Paul Samson. Our technical producers are Tim Lewis and Melanie DeBonte. Fact-checking and background research provided by Reanne Cayenne. Marketing by Kahlan Thomson. Brand design by Abhilasha Dewan and creative direction by Som Tsoi.

Original music by Joshua Snethlage.

Sound mix and mastering by François Goudreault.

Special thanks to creative consultant Ken Ogasawara.

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