Harvard Law School Lecture - December 5, 2012
I will be speaking at The Harvard University Law School today between noon and 1:15 PM in Wasserstein Hall 3036. The subject will be my work in, and take on, music copyright, intellectual property, tech and entertainment issues. This is a great honor and I am very happy to have been invited.(If you haven't been to campus, there is a magnificent statue of John Harvard. It has always looked like this, except for a few hours in 1996 when MIT students dressed him up to look like the Unabomber.)
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This blog post will also double as my notes or at least a guide to the order of subjects. I'll be able to see this post on a monitor or my iPhone while my iPad plays the music. I'll also bring a DVD or two, unless I choose to access the same material on the Very Wide World Spider Web.Videos I will use:Excerpt from film, "BASEketball" - Joe Cooper says the name, "Steve Perry, Steve Perry!" He then sings the opening line - "And I should've been gone" - from Steve Perry's "Oh Sherrie." Did this need to be licensed?And Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." In 2004, Greg & Evan Spiridellis created a video parody of Jib Jab - Woody Guthrie. Their docile, innocent not-for-profit two-minute video went viral becoming the first Internet mega-hit and drew the wrath of a publisher. I was involved in the defense of this. I might talk about it - maybe give my take on whether this is a parody, satire, parodic satire, satiric parody, or some of more of those words, as well as other issues that arose.
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As of now, my first Harvard Law set list will cover:
Tracks 1 - 7 Infringement? Not Infringement?Tracks 8 - 16 Parody? Not a Parody?Tracks 17 - 27 MashupsTracks 28 - 36 SamplingTracks 37 - 48 Advertising, Right of Publicity, CopyrightTracks 49 - 74 Evidence/Exhibits I will useTracks 75 - 78 Licensing issuesTracks 79 - 80 Co-Writing/Joint WorksTracks 81 - 96 Originality, Copyright MythsTracks 97 - 118 Big Publishing Mistake
This is not firm and these examples vary in length from 2 seconds to 120 seconds. I might jump around (I'll resist the urge for a Jump Around link as it is too predictable).
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Most significantly and solemnly to me, my Dad, Edward F. Harrington, died on December 5, 1991. This day is always very important to me. I was the luckiest person to be his son.