... be accessed through the author’s website at http://james-boyle.com. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN: 978-0-300-13740-8 Library of Congr... ...served mockery. “Want that insignia torn off your car, Dad? Then it would be in the public domain, right?” My colleagues at Duke are one of the main i... ... at Duke are one of the main influences on my work. I am lucky enough to work in the only “Center for the Study of the Public Domain” in the academic w... ...er voluntary communication to others, free as the air to common use.” 12 Our art, our culture, our science depend on this public domain every bit as m... ...ice gets formed, you prefer it to some government funding body or coterie of art mavens. At the same time as you are developing your culture, you want... ...__ 37278_u01.qxd 8/28/08 11:04 AM Page 4 Instead of having ministries of art that define the appropriate culture to be produced this year, or turni... ...Thomas Babington Macaulay. 14 Macaulay’s speeches to the House of Commons in 1841 on the subject of copyright term extension still express better than... ...in 1785 or 1786. Now, would the knowledge that this copyright would exist in 1841 have been a source of gratification to Johnson? Would it have stimula... ...in 1785 or 1786. Now, would the knowledge that this copyright would exist in 1841 have been a source of gratification to John- son? Would it have stimu...

...ll depend on a delicate balance between those ideas that are controlled and those that are free, between intellectual property and the public domain. In The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind (Yale University Press) James Boyle introduces readers to the idea of the public domain and describes how it is being tragically eroded by our current copyright, patent,...