Thread by @DanielTakash

Thread: Right-wingers want to "cancel" Disney. @hamandcheese tells the @ThePlumLineGS that they need to clarify what they actually want: Is it an end to corporate rent-seeking or a targeted retaliation at a specific company?/1 washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…

We can fairly say it’s the latter. Why? Because if the right cared about the issue of media power and copyright more broadly, there are plenty of more relevant issues for the right to address than copyright terms. /2

Perhaps they’d be interested in taking a look at statutory damages for copyright infringement, which are downright punitive. They’re severe, but not swift or certain–the opposite of what an effective deterrence policy looks like. /3

They would also have taken a closer look at the CASE Act, a policy that streamlines the litigation process (not necessarily objectionable) in a way that goes after innocent infringers... capturedeconomy.com/the-uneasy-cas… /4

...people who, unfamiliar with the particulars of copyright law, accidentally infringe on the exclusive rights of others. capturedeconomy.com/copyright-infr… /5

Those who don't know better are willing to take down images or negotiate a lower licensing fee if it's acknowledged that they made a good-faith error./6

The law makes a distinction between willful & non-willful infringement, but demand letters & threats of litigation intimidate those unfamiliar with © law. And they, of course, happen in the shadows outside a courtroom. /7

Trolling can affect plenty of people who don’t know better, from demand letters to innocent infringers to bad-faith DMCA takedown notices against all sorts of folks–right- wing commenters (and even Trump!) included. /8 news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/youtube…

And while reducing copyright terms might trim some of the fat in large media companies' valuations, it won't do much. The U.S. is bound by the Berne Convention to have terms not much shorter than those created by the Sonny-Bono Act. /9

Plus, there are countless newer versions of Mickey that will enter the public domain *way* after Steamboat Willie does. @AEI @michaelmrosen /10

A better approach is to look at the whole universe of what is covered by copyright and how its scope (rather than duration) has expanded over time. capturedeconomy.com/innocent-infri… /11

But the interest of the so-called "new right" in this issue will be fleeting. They’ll forget about it the next time a shiny object appears in the culture war. /12

And they don't have the interest to seriously engage in the literature on optimal term length or the complexities associated w/ registration. Optimal term length is a tricky question, and serious analysis is needed! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf… cc @zvisrosen @Richard_Schwinn /13

See also: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf… by @rufuspollock & nber.org/papers/w26885 by @PMoserEcon & @M_Giorcelli /14

There’s another issue here: The new right's opposition to copyright reform could easily wither and die when they find out the relationship between #techlash and #IP? /15

Take for example the right-wing opposition to fair use in Google v. Oracle, motivated by opposition to Google for unrelated reasons. nationalreview.com/2019/12/suprem… /16

Or what happens when they figure out that the present state of IP has serious implications for speech that is likely to disagree with their views in a way that challenges prevailing norms surrounding traditional values? /17

https://twitter.com/DanielTakash/status/1197951279168925696

If they think that Disney’s current agenda is “degenerate,” just wait until they find out about what it went after the Air Pirates for publishing /18 theboblevin.com/bio/the-pirate…

Or how about the intersection of #IP & expression by minority communities that results in conflicts that favor established, mainstream rightsholders at the expense of the bleeding edge of cultural expression by minorities? /19

https://twitter.com/edensarid/status/1510945800309907458?s=21

No better example of the unseriousness of the new right's approach to copyright infringement can be found than when then-President Trump (wrongly!) blamed Section 230 for his content being pulled for copyright infringement. /20

This was a perfect opportunity to take a close look at copyright enforcement online and bad takedown notices that the Trumpian right's ignorance of (or disinterest in) the issue prevented them from noticing. techdirt.com/2020/11/18/why… /21

There are valid critiques that the right can make of the culture industry that come from a position of good faith. (The left has been doing it for decades!) /22 thriftbooks.com/w/the-culture-…

This isn't the case here. Terms that actually last forever minus a day would be preferable to politics that uses half-baked, kleptocratic policies as a threat on unrelated fronts in the culture war. /End