All That To Say

It’s just me today approaching the issue of a boom in copyright lawsuits in the music industry. In light of these lawsuits, I ask: is copyright law serving artists the way it’s supposed to? To find out, we need to think about what the purpose of copyright law is and whether it is fulfilling or stifling this purpose. To do so, I look philosophical theories of property and apply them to musical copyright to help us reason through this problem.

This is a project for my intellectual property law class that I took this semester at UBC under Professor Jon Festinger. Thank you to Professor Festinger for teaching the class! I hope my listeners and newsletter subscribers enjoy as well. As a musician with a philosophy degree, I thought this would be an appropriate topic to cover.

Show Notes and Bibliography:

Bruncken, Ernest. “The Philosophy of Copyright,” (1916) 2:3 The Musical Quarterly.

Canadian Admiral Corporation Ltd v Rediffusion Inc [1954] Ex CR 382, 20 CPR 75

CCH Canadian Ltd v Law Society of Upper Canada 2004 SCC 13.

Cinar Corporation v Robinson 2013 SCC 73.

Decibel Peak. “Which Parts of a Song Can Be Copyrighted.” Decibel Peak. 15 January 2021. .

Ghorayeb, Mila. “Dua Lipa’s Levitating” and the moral realm of musical copyright.” Intellectual Property Law 422: Issues/Your Take. 19 March 2022.

Gould Estate v Stoddart Publishing Co Ltd (1998) 39 OR 555 (Ont CA).

Gregory, Sven. “Brute-Forced Copyrighting: Liberating All the Melodies.” Hackaday. 5 March 2020. .

Hagen, Greg et al, eds. Canadian Intellectual Property Law: Cases and Materials 2nd ed. Toronto: Emond, 2018.

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Fredrich. Hegel: Elements of the philosophy of right. Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Locke, John. Second treatise of government: An essay concerning the true original, extent and end of civil government. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.

Mill, John Stuart. "Utilitarianism (1863)." Utilitarianism, Liberty, Representative Government (1859): 7-9.

Théberge v Galerie d’Art du Petit Champlain Inc 2002 SCC 34.

Urban, Mark. “Ed Sheeran: Copyright case was about honesty, not money.” BBC News. 8 April 2022. .

Wang, Amy X. “How Music Copyright Lawsuits are Scaring Away New Hits.” Rolling Stone. 9 January 2020. .

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ghorayeb.substack.com/subscribe

For today’s chat, I speak with Yair - also known on Twitter as Jerusalem Yahoodi - about topics pertaining to Mizrahi Jewish experience in the Middle East, issues in Israel/Palestine pertaining to the media and weapons industry, and his time working in the peace and dialogue industry.

I say this almost every episode, but I learned a lot from Yair!

Yair is based in Jerusalem and works in the music and education industry. He is currently working on a project “News from Palestine” to give Hebrew speakers access to Palestinian and Arab news. Follow Yair on Twitter at @Looking4Gavin.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ghorayeb.substack.com/subscribe

For today’s chat, I spoke with Guillaume about his work on the migration debate. Guillaume takes a fascinating angle: instead of focusing on common issues like open borders or building walls, his work focuses on the role one’s home community plays in one’s identity formation, and what obligations that generates upon leaving said community. Guillaume outlines his argument and we discuss where it sits in relation to contemporary migration debates.

The article we discuss is here.

Guillaume Bogiaris is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of West Alabama. He has recently authored the book Machiavelli’s Platonic Problems.

Guillaume’s research and other media appearances can be found here.

Follow Guillaume on Twitter at @gbogiaris

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ghorayeb.substack.com/subscribe

For today’s chat, I spoke with Charlie about his run for Morris County Freeholder, and how he ran for office as a socialist in one of America’s wealthiest and Republican-dominant areas. Charlie and I discuss the differences in changes one can make at a local vs federal level, political compromise, and more.

Charlie Baranski is a progressive organizer and former candidate for New Jersey’s county government. Follow him on Twitter at @CharlieBaranski

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ghorayeb.substack.com/subscribe

TwinkRev’s Sam and River write on LGBT and economic issues. I just studied contracts and the enforceability (or lack-thereof) of commercial surrogacy contracts. What a formula for a good conversation on and critique of the growing popularity of commercial surrogacy!

Sam is the editor of Twink Revolution and co-host of the Twink Revolution podcast. He is also the creator of the Gaylag Archipelago Series, which explores LGBT life under communism. Follow Sam on Twitter at @twinkrevsam

River is a writer working for Twink Revolution. You may know him for his writing on the new gay sex panic, progressive derision of the poor, and more. Check out River’s articles here. Follow River on Twitter at @gayliaronline

Get full access to All That to Say at ghorayeb.substack.com/subscribe

For today’s chat, Sam comes on to talk about the NATO bombings of Yugoslavia in light of its 22nd anniversary. Sam discusses what was behind the bombings, their impacts, and what lessons we can learn.

Sam is the editor of Twink Revolution and co-host of the Twink Revolution podcast. He is also the creator of the Gaylag Archipelago Series, which explores LGBT life under communism. Follow Sam on Twitter at @twinkrevsam

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ghorayeb.substack.com/subscribe

For today’s chat, I speak with Alex about his new piece on “intersectional imperialism” and the use of progressivism to sell war.

Alex Rubinstein is an independent journalist currently based in Mexico City. He has shared live coverage of social movements in the United States including Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock, Charlottesville, the inauguration protests against Pres. Trump, and from inside the besieged Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, DC, and has published reporting with Mint Press News and The Grayzone.

Alex’s new article and Substack can be found here.

Subscribe to Alex’s Substack: https://realalexrubi.substack.com

Follow Alex on Twitter @RealAlexRubi

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ghorayeb.substack.com/subscribe

For today’s chat, I speak with Perpetual Self-Optimizer for a Christian perspective on issues within Syria in light of Biden bombing it and its re-entry into the news. We also discuss how the Syria discourse has impacted the way we view the media and US/Canadian progressives.

PSO is currently writing a piece interviewing his family about their experiences during the war, which will be out soon - look out for it!

Perpetual Self-Optimizer is a writer and co-host of the cultural criticism podcast, System of Systems. Follow him on Twitter at @_selfoptimizer and check out some of his recent writing here.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ghorayeb.substack.com/subscribe

For today’s chat, I speak with Katya about what exactly is going on with Alexei Navalny in Russia and how our media has failed to properly tell the story. We also talk about the depiction of Russia generally in the media post-Russiagate, and more.

Katya Kazbek is a bilingual Russian/English writer, translator, and editor of Supamodu. Follow Katya on Twitter at @kazbek

Read Katya’s article/interview on Navalny here.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ghorayeb.substack.com/subscribe

For today’s chat, I speak with Akiva about his new article in which he makes the case for legalizing all drugs. We discuss two different common justifications for legalization; one from a point of harm reduction and the other from a point of bodily autonomy. We also talk about potential difficulties and concerns on the path to legalization.

Akiva Malamet is a writer and graduate student in philosophy at Queen’s University. He is a new contributing writer to The Catalyst and has also published work with Libertarianism.org, Liberal Currents, and others.

Akiva’s article, “It’s Time to Legalize Drugs: All of Them” can be found here.

Follow Akiva on Twitter at @akiva_malamet

Other relevant links mentioned in the episode:

Hari on the War on Drugs

Dr. Hart’s memoir on addiction

Julia Galef’s straw vulcan talk

Glenn Greenwald on Portugal

Nixon, racism, and the War on Drugs

Sullum on drug use as a human right

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ghorayeb.substack.com/subscribe