Better to Beg Forgiveness
The author reflects on the history of Creative Commons and the legal complexities surrounding copyright 'fair use.' The piece explores how legal exceptions allow for the use of copyrighted material without explicit permission.
Why it matters
Understanding fair use is critical for creators and legal professionals navigating the intersection of intellectual property and digital content distribution.
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From its inception, I've loved Creative Commons. I hung out with Lisa Rein, Matt Haughey and Aaron Swartz while they coded up the first version of the site, and my first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom , was the first professionally published text ever released under a CC license, just weeks after CC itself launched:
In those early days, CC licenses were primarily of interest to people who were steeped in copyright law, lore and litigation; so many of the early debates about these licenses turned on esoteric (but important!) questions about copyright; for example, how CC would interact with copyright's "limitations and exceptions."
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