3.15.2006

Law Comics

A couple weeks back, we had an exchange on use of copyrighted characters and fair use in comics over at the DCC Yahoo Group. (To summarize our conclusion: get permission.)

So, just in time, The Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law has released Tales from the Public Domain: Bound by Law?, which aims to explain public domain and fair use — in comic form, no less.

In a kind of Understanding Comics way (and with plenty of nods to classic comics), it walks through the ideas of intellectual property and copyright law. The book is really aimed more at documentary filmmakers, but there's some interesting insight in there that should apply to all creators of content. And the comic format makes it more approachable and understandable, so now I ~~have a comprehensive understanding of intellectual property law~~ am reasonably sure I'm not going be sued for including an image of the cover.