In this enlightening book James
Boyle describes what he calls the range wars of the information
age-today's heated battles over intellectual property. Boyle argues
that just as every informed citizen needs to know at least
something about the environment or civil rights, every citizen
should also understand intellectual property law. Why? Because
intellectual property rights mark out the ground rules of the
information society, and today's policies are unbalanced,
unsupported by evidence, and often detrimental to cultural access,
free speech, digital creativity, and scientific innovation.
Boyle identifies as a major problem
the widespread failure to understand the importance of the public
domain-the realm of material that everyone is free to use and share
without permission or fee. The public domain is as vital to
innovation and culture as the realm of material protected by
intellectual property rights, he asserts, and he calls for a
movement akin to the environmental movement to preserve it. With a
clear analysis of issues ranging from Jefferson's philosophy of
innovation to musical sampling, synthetic biology and Internet file
sharing, this timely book brings a positive new perspective to
important cultural and legal debates. If we continue to enclose the
"commons of the mind," Boyle argues, we will all be the
poorer.