The Economist: copyright and wrongs

"This house believes that existing copyright laws do more harm than good." [06may09]

The renowned UK weekly The Economist just launched a new online debate on copyright and wrongs. The moderator, Kenneth Cukier, the magazine's Tokyo correspondent, started with this opening remark:

"Copyright strangles creativity. Copyright rewards originality. It is a nuisance to the public that unduly enriches a few people. It is the backbone of our knowledge economy that fuels progress. Hate it, love it, break it, protect it; few people lack strong opinions about copyright and its place in society."

In support of the initial motion ("existing copyright laws do more harm than good") we have Professor William Fisher (Harvard Law School), while Professor Justin Hughes (Cardozo Law School, New York) argues against it. Users can publish comment all along and even vote on that motion: after the first 24 hours, there are more than 55 comments, with 71% yes and 29% no votes.

During the following days the two debaters will post more statements and rebuttals, with other words from the moderator and surely lots of new comments from the public, and so on. A very interesting format to host a serious and open debate on such an important topic.

Follow and participate in this lively conversation: copyright and wrongs.