Great article in the Boston Globe from Christmas Eve Eve (aka lille juleaften) about the way intellectual property and copyright issues play out in other fields like standup comedy, magic, and haute cuisine: “Creative Vigilantes.”

Comedy is not the only creative industry in which scholars are finding evidence that challenges assumptions held on Capitol Hill. Over the past two years, a flurry of papers have appeared on so-called “negative spaces” of intellectual-property law – industries that receive little to no legal protection for their ideas or products, yet that continue to innovate, often at a rapid clip. Articles have already appeared about high fashion, haute cuisine, and professional magic, with another planned by Sprigman and a colleague about stand-up comedy. And already, Washington seems to be paying attention. Last July, Sprigman testified in Congress against a bill that would have tightened copyright control in the fashion industry; the fashionistas, he argued, are better off on their own.

Glad to see these issues getting broad coverage – and making the debate more complex than the simplistic “pro-intellectual-property-protection” and “pro-piracy” poles which often get represented in the popular press.