Do IP Laws Stifle Popular Culture?

A reader writes: "This could probably fit under 'Patents' as well. Anyways, here's a long but very intelligent essay on the abuse of copyright and trademark laws we see today, full of examples showing that these laws are being used to restrain enterprise and free speech instead of promoting them. Writing in Reason Online , Jesse Walker concludes that the 'culture industry' just wants us to 'shut up and get back on the couch.'"