LawFashion

I will be traveling to Baltimore for the Annual Law and Society conference in a couple of hours. Tomorrow, I'll be participating in an Author-Meets-Reader panel to discuss Susan Scafidi's book Who Own's Culture. It's an insightful and fun book to read about the underprotection of certain forms of cultural products (fashion) and the overprotection of others (chemical compounds).

There is so much to admire about Susan Scafidi, especially from where I sit: which is as a newish female legal academic from an interdisciplinary background, who writes about “low brow” things – I write about film, she writes about fashion.  Successfully deconstructing the nomenclature of “low brow” and “high brow” is part of Susan’s successful project.  She points to why cultural products, like fashion, cuisine, quilting are typically not protected in traditional intellectual property regimes, and how – no surprise here for the feminists in the room – these are also typically female-oriented endeavors.  The implication here is that there is a real, material connection between what U.S. law protects and the ideology of gender.

Another thing I like about Scafidi’s book (and Scafidi’s blog, and her scholarship generally) is how unapologetic she is when it comes to discussing things like fashion and food in the context of law and society. Not that I think one should be apologetic – especially in a forum like the Law and Society association. But don’t be fooled – there are plenty of law faculties around the country that would and do turn up their noses at articles written about Louis Vuitton luggage or Lily Pulitzer clothing even if the subject is intellectual property law.  Scafidi has – ironically enough – taken “low brow” issues in a legal academic setting and legitimated them with her fine scholarship and depth of knowledge about intellectual property regimes – much as she says the legal system should do with certain cultural products presently undervalued or unprotected by intellectual property law.

In these ways, Susan Scafidi is admirably bold.  She is also bold in that she is advocating more IP protection in a legal academic world populated by (or at least where some of the loudest talkers are) those who think there is too much IP protection – that the trend in legislative initiatives over the past 25 years to extend and enlarge certain IP protection is deeply troubling from the point of view of protecting the commons. Some will criticize Scafidi for her association of value and legal right: she suggests that if we value certain cultural products, we should protect them through the law. Her critics will say “don’t create more IP rights but decrease the rights available to others.” This avenue, they think, will free up more creative expression, encourage more inventions for everyone’s benefit. They’ll point out that people don’t necessarily need the incentive of IP protection to create, invent or market goods. Society benefits all the time from unprotected acts of creativity and genius.

There are lots of good arguments against this predominantly economic model of intellectual property (some of which Scafidi mentions, some of which she doesn’t). One of which is that whether or not a source community stops engaging in its valuable creative activity in the absence of the extension of intellectual property rights, whether the law grants it legal protection says something about our culture’s valuation of and respect for that creative activity and that source community.  This is an argument about the symbolic function of law, one which Scafidi makes, especially in her concluding pages, but which I think could be made stronger. Insofar as the law serves a modeling function (it being constitutive of social norms as well as reflective of them), protecting the cultural products of source communities can help foster tolerance for and disseminate honest information about those communities and their contributions to society.        

Comments

[Bruce]

whether the law grants it legal protection says something about our culture’s valuation of and respect for that creative activity and that source community

I've heard this point made before but suddenly it strikes me as deeply interesting. It suggests that the current struggles over copyright are motivated by much more than mere economic interest -- which means, of course, that they will be that much harder to resolve.

[JSilbey]

Yes, think about how copyright doesn't protect much fashion (style or design), recipes, or textile art (quilts). But it (or patent) does protect software, utensils, and means by which quilts are mass-produced.

The deep structure is deeply gendered (among other things), or so Scafidi persuasively argues.

[Coach Outlet]

Chief Justice Robert's decision for the unanimous Court in in the law school/military recruiting

[EFX bracelet]

Our power balance contains 3 sizes, and you can have mixed colors, Most people like them. We are confident that once you had tried our products,you will be completely satisfied with them. Hope to do business with you.
http://www.toptoys2trade.com

[christian louboutin shoes]

*And you know, become friends, I was most happy.

[George]

I've heard this point made before but suddenly it strikes me as deeply interesting. It suggests that the current struggles over copyright are motivated by much more than mere economic interest. http://www.fileclown.com

[Beats By Dre Headphones]

nice post and i like it.

[Winding Up Petition]

If you have been issued with a winding up petition for your company because the company owes money. You can pay the money owed before the court date and get the case droped or fight it if you believe it to be worth defending.

[ferragamo shoes]

Another big sporting event on Vancouver's home turf is raising bad memories of last spring's Stanley Cup riot as the BC Lions get ready to snatch the Grey Cup for the first time since 1994.

[Tiffany Locket]

I feel your eyes travelling,and the autumn is far off;
grey beret,voice of a bird,heart like a house
towards which my deep longings migrated
and my kisses fell,happy as embers.

[online pharmacy uk]

online pharmacy europe Acheter cataracts or impaired eyesight Hyzaar mens health forum Frankreich quick delivery numbness, tingling, or prickly sensations Worldwide,Free Shipping.Buy all us regions constipation or diarrhea Hyzaar inexpensive pharmacy internet kidney disease or infection purchase brand Osaka shipped ups +FREE Pills.Cheap For Sale Online! VISA, American Express, JCB & eCheck sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, sulfa drugs, other medicines, foods, dyes, or preservatives Vasotec cheapest online price Glasgow FDA Approved

buy Dexone depresses buy Dexone depresses

[online pharmacy degree]

online pharmacy degree Buy all us regions irregular heartbeat Advair diskus fast worldwide delivery and no RX price of unusual pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness Sale cheap US cod no prescription +FREE Pills.Book internet pharmacy increase or decrease in blood pressure Advair diskus cheap legal for sale nausea, vomiting discount.Non Prescription Free Shipping,Where to Order Order, aches, pains Levitra mens health forum SVERIGE FEDEX COD FREE CONSULT

buy celebrex buy celebrex

[online pharmacy united states only]

online pharmacy us Antibiotics sale discount price Fast shipping, 100% satisfaction confusion, disorientation, irritability Neurontin DNK Shipping Canada under-active thyroid Tablets for sale USA overnight cod FREE delivery.Buy cheapest brand USA without prescription changes in appetite Neurontin for sale HIGH QUALITY Kobe,Hyogo EUROPEAN PHARMACY swelling of the hands or feet purchase brand Canada No prescription needed!.Discount online,Sell being treated with anticonvulsants Zestoretic cheap+non prescription Nevada without perscription

low price comprar kamagra oral jelly, order comprar kamagra soft, low price comprar kamagra,