Creative Commons & Webcomics

xerexes writes "This week Comixpedia is publishing an article written by T Campbell called "Creative Commons and Webcomics" which features a roundtable discussion with comments from Lawrence Lessig, Neeru Paharia, Mia Garlick, JD Frazer and Cory Doctorow. Traditional copyright faces webcomics with an uncomfortable choice. Its restrictions, properly enforced, would mean a virtual end to crossovers and homages, fan art, fan fiction, and many other staples that make the webcomic a more entertaining creation and foster artistic growth. A total lack of copyright, however, leaves unscrupulous readers free to "bootleg" subscription sites, program tools to deprive comics of advertising revenue, and even profit from others' labor without permission. The Creative Commons license presents a possible solution. It lets copyright holders to grant some of their rights to the public while retaining others, through a variety of licensing and contract schemes, which may include dedication to the public domain or open content licensing terms. "

Comments

Profit from others' work is bad, eh?

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You mean like how Metallica wants to stop you from stealing their CD's? I guess if it's a "cool" cartoon, it's bad to rip it off, but if it's an "evil" CD, then it's OK to rip off. I hope this article helps people see why copyright issues are so complex -- you just can't treat one media differently from the other. Many hours of labor are involved in the initial creation of ANY product, and the people who put in those hours deserve just compensation and equal protection under the law.