Schedule A

Parts of the following post maybe considered illegal under some implementations of copyright law.

After a fair amount of public pressure, the Canadian government is holding open consultations about copyright all over the country and online. There is a lot to be said on the topic copyright by people far more involved then myself. One of those people is Lawrence Lessig. When Professor Lessig talks about copyright he often discusses that mash up, the act of mixing existing pieces of media together to make a point, is fast becoming an important tool of expression. This can be compared to quoting text, something which is deeply fundamental to how we communicate today.

You might be skeptical about such an idea, but in the recent reaction to the leaked proposed new UW logo one can see how important it is becoming. The leaked logo appeared on Facebook and the reaction was large. It featured many statements of opinion and some debate, but the part people will remember, the part most people had the time to look, at were the hundreds of mashed up images. Let look at one featuring the draft logo.

Which compare to the classic coat of arms, the new logo is a bit… flashy?

It is very different

Which isn’t necessarly a bad thing. But it is kind 80s.

They wanted something modern, but we were left with lasers.

Lasers and robots.

Or you can combine 80s and lasers.

Or more abstractly.

Then it was beyond the internet itself.

Finally one of the best way to communicate the issue some had with the logo was probably the development of this cheer.

From uwlogo

Whatever you might feel about the logo, the point is there was a reaction, and the way in which people expressed themselves was through mash up. All of these images could be said to be breaking UW copyright. Under difference circumstance and certain copyright law an organization like UW could sue to get the expression censored. In a world where copy bits creates this new kind of expression we have to re think our copyright laws. Imagine if quote text was illegal. How well would our society function? Additionally my republishing of these images is done without the express permission of the creators. If anyone wishes me to remove their work, just let me know.

This huge reaction, mashed up images and all, even prompted the University to rethink their new logo. I want to suggest this form of expression needs protection in any new copyright system.