Rethinking Copyright: History, Theory, Language

Deazley spends the first half of the book, chapters 1-3, presenting detailed detective work with considerable citation and reference to a well researched historical record in order to show that successive legal treatises have been so selective (I can only conclude as negligence bordering upon dishonesty and commercial bias), they have steadily transformed the well understood natural right of an author to their secrets INTO the author's `natural right' to govern the use of their secrets even after disclosure - and after they have clearly ceased being secrets.

Copyright now governs the individual. That it was once intended to govern a select few fortunate enough to own printing presses is a vestigial curiosity.

The foundation Deazley so painstakingly arrives at is this: copyright is not, and never has been, a natural right to be protected by common law.

In the second half of the book, chapters 4-6, Deazley begins the process of proposing at least better attention to language, if not its reformation.

He discusses the concept of the public domain, and because the public domain has now been enclosed by a vastness of copyrighted works (that some insist remain within their author's private domain - despite publication), Deazley sees fit to invent a new term, the `Intellectual commons', and what was once the private domain is now termed the `Undisclosed domain'. Published works now fall into overlapping `public domain' and `copyright protected' areas.

If you need evidence that all is not as some lawyers would have you believe, then you'll find it in this book. If you wish to understand how the present law has become such a distorted interpretation of its original incarnations you'll have eminent pointers.