As much as America tries to act like we only do so when absolutely necessary, we love to go to war. We like feeling like we can fight something and win. But, we have been sadly mistaken. This goes beyond Vietnam and Iraq mind you and don’t even get my started on the War on Drugs. No, the war I’m talking about this time is the one that Lawrence Lessing discusses in Remix in which he dissects our society in regards to copyright law’s presence and history and offers quasi solutions for how to reform them. Lessing contends that we citizens must “add to the culture they read by creating and re-creating the culture around them” yet we are punished by the law for doing so (28). Lessing muses that there are a lot of factors that contribute to this phenomenon including the economy and the readily available resources. All of Lessing’s arguments however trickled down to one basic fact: we need to reform our copyright laws. I wholeheartedly agree with Lessing in his idea that we should create a hybrid of R/O (consummation only) and R/W (consummation, creation and re-creation) culture for better copyright laws. Lessing also includes the notion that we must find where exactly the finger of blame should be pointed. I have always believed that the only time copyright laws should step in is when money is not being allocated to the right person. Royalties should be copyright law’s main concern and once that is regulated then the laws should loosen their grip. As he states, the main function of copyright law is “to protect the commercial life of creativity” (262). He also contends that “if the owner can’t control the use [of material], then the misuse is not the owner’s responsibility” (257). That being said, I think Lessing’s solutions could work if they are given a more practical application. The finger of blame can be pointed for any reason at any time at any person with our current copyright regulations so the responsibility then should be shifted from not the original producer but said user of the material. If the material is a remix, and not an original, then there should be some type of disclaimer that releases all others aside from the creators of the remix from liability. That way, blame can be put on who deserves it. Copyright hinders the preservation of our culture, both pop and elite; creativity is not the only thing that is affected in this war. By moving the responsibility to where it belongs, this war could actually have a better outcome.
