Blogging about race, authorship, and law

[rivkat]

I once bollixed an interview by not having anything worthwhile to say about the subject of race and intellectual property law.  I still don’t think I have much to say, though I can point you to Kevin Greene, who’s doing interesting work about the role of black artists in American copyright law, here and here.  His work ties into the cultural appropriation debates on LJ, which have often asked questions about artistic choices.  Looking at it from a legal angle increases one’s focus on the material consequences – the empty bank accounts, the records that didn’t go gold, etc. – of appropriation. 

As Greene points out, lots of important IP cases have African-American plaintiffs and/or defendants.  I’ve been thinking about copyright and gender, and both race and gender matter in the important Supreme Court case Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.  2 Live Crew mocked Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman with a version of their own, and the Supreme Court concluded that the “big hairy woman” in the latter offered parodic commentary on the “pretty woman” in the former.  Here’s a question: When you imagine the respective women described in those songs, what race are they?  Would it matter to your view of the song if Orbison were singing about a woman of color?  Or if 2 Live Crew were singing about a white or Asian woman?  (The lyrics mention that she’s got an afro, which is a cultural clue – but then so is 2 Live Crew’s racial composition.)

Comments

[chase820.livejournal.com]

Have you ever seen The Sopranos episode where Hesh, Tony's friend and a former music impresario, is hit up for royalties by the relative of one of his former partners? It's an interesting retelling of the Frankie Lymon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Lymon) story.

Of course, his case was also covered in Why Do Fools Fall in Love, but I make it a point to avoid any Halle Berry acting projects which don't include Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart as ballast.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

I do think of the 2 Live Crew song as being about a black woman, though I think "teeny weeny Afro" definitely invites that. (And isn't it "bald-headed woman," rather than "big hairy woman"? Or are they both in there?)

I think of the Roy Orbison song as being about a white woman -- specifically, Julia Roberts, so I think Disney owns that corner of my subconscious. One of their many acquisitions.

2 Live Crew

[mustangsally78.livejournal.com]

Dennis Miller, before he was brainwashed, said that the worst thing about Crew being the test case for the Parental Advisory and sampling was that Nasty as They Wanna Be was a shitty album. Wouldn't it have been better if the album was a great one like Layla.

Let's have a moment for Frank Zappa.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

v. interesting!!!

i was thinking of you a few months ago when listening to this (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5300359) on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (and no, I couldn't help but have Chris Kirkpatrick in my mind as I was listening :-), which was not just about race but on some level (post)colonial exploitation as well, one could argue...

[kaseido.livejournal.com]

OK, your lj is just *every* kind of fascinating!

Friending you -