Mcleod

There are so many ridiculous copyright laws in today’s society, especially pertaining to electronic media. What bothers me the most about copyright laws in general is thinking about the thousands or maybe millions of movies or songs that are just sitting in storage collecting dust because they are so heavily copyrighted. While I understand that some protection or ownership is warranted, such harsh restrictions are not benefitting anyone, and it is frustrating to think about creativity being stifled in this way.

One of the tougher copyright infringement punishments that Mcleod cited was Gilbert O’Sullivan versus Biz Markie (pp. 78-79). Biz Markie was a hip-hop artist and used a twenty-second sample from one of O’Sullivan’s songs to incorporate into his own work. Before the record was released, Markie asked permission to use the sample and was denied. O’Sullivan took Markie to court not only for copyright infringement, but also for criminal prosecution, claiming he “stole” that music. I can understand that he probably deserved the copyright infringement punishment, since he used the sample after he was told he couldn’t, but the criminal charges seem unreasonable to me. Mcleod goes on to point out that in order for the judge to be consistent, he or she would also have to prosecute Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, Bob Dylan, and many more, for integrating other artists’ work into their own.