ABSTRACT
In The Secret Life of Copyright: Intellectual Property and Inequality in the Age of AI (Cambridge University Press, 2025), copyright meets Black Lives Matter and #MeToo in a provocative reassessment of our laws governing creativity. Drawing on a wide array of case studies – Harvard’s exploitation of slave daguerreotypes, the unlawful distribution of an intimate recording of broadcaster Erin Andrews, the infamous standoff between the Charging Bull and Fearless Girl statues on Wall Street, the largely forgotten authorship controversy over the beloved musical Rent, and Adolf Hitler’s cynical invocation of copyright law to stop Americans from learning his true plans in the lead up to World War II – the book makes the case that our copyright regime has a social justice problem. Despite the purported neutrality of copyright’s authorship, derivative rights and fair use doctrines and its exemption from First Amendment scrutiny, the rules governing the vesting and scope of copyrights have systematically disadvantaged individuals from traditionally marginalized communities and exacerbated inequalities along racial, gender, and socioeconomic lines. At the same time, they have also impoverished copyright’s ability to promote progress in the arts. Since laws regulating the use of creative content increasingly mediate participation and privilege in the digital world, this book provides a template for a more robust copyright regime that better addresses egalitarian concerns and serves the interests of creativity.
Tehranian, John, The Secret Life of Copyright: Intellectual Property and Inequality in the Age of AI (Book Introduction) (January 1, 2025), Cambridge University Press (2025).
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