The Distant Drumbeat: Why the Law Still Matters in the Information Era

Abstract

Founded in 1981, the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal is one of the first student-edited entertainment law journals in the United States. Over the course of the years, it has grown to be a leading journal in the field. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Journal, the Cardozo Intellectual Property Law Program, in conjunction with Kluwer Law International, published The Marketplace of Ideas: Twenty Years of Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. As an introduction to this volume, Professor Marci Hamilton discusses why information, like technology, is nothing more than a tool that can be used by humans for good and for evil. It also explains why intellectual property laws are just as relevant in the information age as they were in the past. As the essay pointed out, the hackers' utopia is a seductive but dangerous dream. The daily battle for liberty from tyrants continues, and the legal tools of the past should be ready to hand, even if they are in need of fine-tuning. In addition to this introductory essay, the anniversary volume collects some of the most widely-cited articles published in the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal in the past 20 years, as well as distinguished intellectual property lectures sponsored by the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University. Contributors to this volume include leading commentators in the field of intellectual property, art, and communications law, as well as eminent jurists and former government officials from the U.S. Copyright Office.