My former student Greg London has written a tremendous little book about copyright, in the form of a parable about the wild west. "Bounty Hunters: Metaphors for Fair Intellectual Property Laws" is a slim, Creative Commons licensed book available on demand from Lulu Press that tackles the economics of copyright through a fun, breezy little parable about a frontier town that hires bounty hunters to bring in the bad guys — until the bounty hunters begin to fund mayoral races in exchange for ever-larger, longer-lived bounties.
London is a computer geek with a passion for economics, a subject that most techies (and non-techies for that matter) have only a rudimentary grasp over. London takes the economist's language and illuminates it with his whimsical examples in ways that make the reason that some copyrights and patents are good — but lots more are bad — clear.
London is a budding science fiction writer who was one of my students at this year's Viable Paradise workshop on Martha's Vineyard; he aspires to create books professionally, and it is with this in mind that he approaches his subject. How can we give creators a fair shake without undermining the public interest?
Bounty Hunters is a clever exercise in explaining the copyfight. I suspect it will resonate strongly with some readers who haven't encountered or understood the subject.
