“A psychedelic learning environment”

This past Thursday, I attended a University of Oregon lecture and real-time copyright creation happening. Dubbed a “psychedelic learning environment”, the talk was formally titled Free Culture: Creating Copyright and Copyright Creation. The discussion, led by U of O professor Matthew Stadler, featured members of the electropop group Team Yacht and attorney and U of O alum Peter Shaver.

The discussion focused on copyright law as it pertains to creative work. Topics included fair use, the Shepard Fairy vs. Associated Press case, the bands Negative Land, Girl Talk, Team Yacht, and Dangermouse, and the literary work of Matthew Stadler. Just prior to the conclusion, the audience was invited to participate in the real time authoring a new copyright law. Mr. Stadler then announced his intention to bind the resulting copyright law creation and send it to the Library of Congress for inclusion in their archives.

Some of the features that people requested in a new copyright law include 1) Copyright on creative work is valid for 14 years. 2) Covers are acts of homage and should be legal. 3) The burden on proof should be on the plaintiff in copyright infringement cases.

The event was very informative and the audience was also quite knowledgeable and willing to participate. Twin projectors streamed a live twitter feed, that utilized the hashtag freeculture, and a real-time editable text document that featured the the newly created copyright law. I was impressed by the entire panel, but specifically found Mr. Shaver to be particularly well spoken. He was very willing to open his mind to copyright theory while discussing the specific cases and legal precedents.