Law is hard. Let's go shopping!

Since there have been so many different explanations of copyright law & the Siegel case, I decided for mine that I would back up everything with linked citations to the underlying legal authority.  Which means that today, in addition to class prep, I've been roaming around copyright statutes, cases and treatises so I can point people to relevant--and, where possible, fun--material.

I've done this sort of thing gobs of time before, and fortunately this isn't new stuff for me.  But reading the text of copyright law as written reinforces the same feeling I get when going back to the source in corporate and tax law--namely, law today is not democratic.  Sure, it gives the people all sorts of nifty keen rights, but if nailing down the details can be a slog for a professor with a Yale Law J.D. and Duke Ph.D., what the $#@$! good is it to folks who don't have specialized training? 

The result is a system where the results tend to favor those who are wealthy enough--or have cases potentially lucrative or attention-getting enough--to get the best representation.

Shoot, national health care, however beneficial it may be, isn't guaranteed or established by the Constitution, but everyone has to work with the law.  Maybe we should nationalize law firms.  It would at least be fun to try, if only to see how lawyers dress when protesting.