Alright, let’s talk some copyright! Remember Napster? Or maybe you were into Limewire? How about Kazaa? Grokster? I was an undergrad in the early two-thousands (aughts?) when the Internet was teeming with peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing sites. It was a lawless frontier where copyright outlaws roamed free and content was ripe for the infringin’.

It didn’t take long for the music industry to take notice and hit the P2P services (and the occasional downloader) with a salvo of copyright infringement lawsuits. One by one, these file sharing sites had to answer for enabling massive amounts of infringement and, for the most part, were shut down entirely. But some digital music sharing sites adapted to the law and evolved into services like Grooveshark that, while claiming to be compliant with copyright law, appeared to offer copyrighted content free of charge like their Napster-like...

I see it fitting that my inaugural post for this project involves three things that hold a special place in my heart: Intellectual property law, South Park, and the Washington Redskins (yes, I just typed Redskins). South Park debuted in 1997, and immediately attracted my attention as a irrepressible 16 year old with its crude and irreverent humor. While I admit that I haven’t watched as religiously in recent years as I once did, I try to tune in when I know Trey Parker and Matt Stone are going to take a polarizing issue, cram it into their warped blender, and toss it back into society’s collective face. I also live in the metropolitan D.C. area, and though it’s tough to be a fan these days, I’m inundated with news of the Redskins team name controversy.

The episode lampooned Redskins team owner Dan Snyder, the organization, and the team name in typical South Park fashion...

Welcome to MisterCopyright.org, your source for the latest news and developments in the world of copyright and intellectual property law. While the focus of this blog will be investigating copyright law, expect some updates that explore issues in entertainment, telecommunications, trademark and patent law. My name is Kevin, and in addition to being an attorney, I’m an artist and registered copyright owner. I recently earned my masters degree in intellectual property law and hope to use this platform to talk about some of the important legal issues surrounding art and creativity in this ever-evolving digital age.

Images that appear in my blog are taken from the Creative Commons image websites Unsplash and Pixababy.