Info/Law

This isn’t one of those law prof/pop culture intersection blogs (you can find those very well represented here and here). But I will tell you that I have been watching the new Aaron Sorkin weekly drama, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, about life behind the scenes of a suspiciously SNL-like live comedy program. And while Sorkin’s new show, unlike his old one, may not be dwelling on affairs of state every week, or name-dropping Larry Lessig, Monday night’s episode had some content to get the attention of an Info/Law blogger. (I will diverge to offer this unsolicited entertainment opinion: the show is already bogging down badly after four episodes. So Mr. Sorkin, please, please, please, less Matthew Perry/Sarah Paulson sparring, more Amanda Peet/Steven Weber sparring. OK, now back to Info/Law.)

So, Monday night featured a plotline rich in Info/Law themes.

SPOILER ALERT! (And it matters more than it used to, now that there is not only TiVo but also NBC streaming the latest episode online).

First, right after the fictional show-within-a-show aired live, someone backstage checked a web site featuring instant fan reaction. She found just-posted video of another comedian at a stand-up club a year before, delivering jokes that our heroes had just used on their show. Chaos ensues. Plagiarism! Copyright infringement! Quick, call the network president (that’s Peet)! Phone general counsel! There will surely be a copyright lawsuit, we are told. They will all need to pay huge damages.

I was gratified that copyright infringement was such a major source of dramatic tension in the show. I was a little doubtful that the producers and writers would swing into action quite so quickly or express quite so much panic, but maybe they would. At first I also wondered if a stand-up act would satisfy the requirement of fixation, but then realized that of course a video had been made and posted. Perhaps surprisingly, none of the characters stopped to puzzle over the fixation issue before the commercial break.

In addition to the copyright issue, there was an internet issue too. Panicked by the apparent copyright infraction, our heroes altered the tape-delayed rebroadcast of the show on the West Coast in order to replace the apparently infringing material with an apology. Ah, but they are rushing. This is the dark side of the sped-up world of the internet and the way it makes us all so hasty. (More Info/Law!) Just after the apology airs, one of the characters discovers that the stand-up comedian who was captured on the video had himself swiped the jokes — from a former staff writer for Studio 60 in the early 1990s. Therefore, Studio 60 owns the copyright after all! Hooray! Here, again, no one paused to mention the work for hire doctrine, but they probably got the substance right on that too. (BTW, the characters’ lack of information aboout copyright ownership here is a nice illustration of my point yesterday about YouTube/Google.)

All in all, it reminded me of a byzantine issue-spotting question, except for the larger quantity of implausible but entertaining high-speed banter than one finds in most law school exams. That kept me occupied. But apparently many viewers are not as enthralled with such minutiae; Studio 60 ratings have been mediocre despite substantial hype and critical acclaim (see here and here).

Filed under: Copyright, Digital Media, Internet & Society, Law School, Media, Video