Authors and apparatus : a media history of copyright / Monika Dommann ; translated from the German by Sarah Pybus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dommann, Monika, Author.

Contributor:

Pybus, Sarah, translator.

Standardized Title:

Autoren und Apparate. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Mass media--History.

Mass media.

Copyright--Germany--History.

Copyright.

Copyright--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Copyright is under siege. From file sharing to vast library scanning projects, new technologies, actors, and attitudes toward intellectual property threaten the value of creative work. However, while digital media and the Internet have made making and sharing perfect copies of original works almost effortless, debates about protecting authors' rights are nothing new. In this sweeping account of the evolution of copyright law since the mid-nineteenth century, Monika Dommann explores how radical media changes-from sheet music and phonographs to photocopiers and networked information systems-have challenged and transformed legal and cultural concept of authors' rights.Dommann provides a critical transatlantic perspective on developments in copyright law and mechanical reproduction of words and music, charting how artists, media companies, and lawmakers in the United States and western Europe approached the complex tangle of technological innovation, intellectual property, and consumer interests. From the seemingly innocuous music box, invented around 1800, to BASF's magnetic tapes and Xerox machines, she demonstrates how copyright has been continuously destabilized by emerging technologies, requiring new legal norms to regulate commercial and private copying practices. Without minimizing digital media's radical disruption to notions of intellectual property, Dommann uncovers the deep historical roots of the conflict between copyright and media-a story that can inform present-day debates over the legal protection of authorship.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction. A Media History of Legal Norms

Part I. Writing and Recording

Chapter 1. Sheet Music

Chapter 2. Images of Books

Chapter 3. Voice Recorders

Chapter 4. Canned Music

Part II. Collecting Agencies and Research Materials

Chapter 5. Collecting Collectives

Chapter 6. Celluloid Circulations

Chapter 7. Performing Artists

Part III. Private Copies and Universal Standards

Chapter 8. Fees for Devices

Chapter 9. Flow of Information

Chapter 10. Authors of Tradition

Conclusion. Legal Histories of Media Transformation

Further Reading. Bibliographic Essay

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Translation of: Autoren und Apparate : die Geschichte des Copyrights im Medienwandel.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Feb 2020)

ISBN:

9781501734984

1501734989

OCLC:

1057242353