"Wirtén, in a fascinating and creative account of the history of the commons, uses the theme of a jungle to show the “geopolitical dimensions of the jungle and the unbroken liaison between imperialism and the public domain, contrasting the British Empire with the Empire of globalization and information technology” (Ibid: 141-142). She explores nineteenth century plundering of the Amazon by imperial powers, hunting as an imperial sport, the related imperial fad of taxidermy, Disney’s appropriation of “authorless” tales, and the imperial adventurism enshrined in Kipling’s Jungle Book, now Disney-property in potential perpetuity—all part, as she notes, of the variegated history of the commons."
Sara Bannerman, Global Media Journal 2 (1), December 2009. Full review in pdf here.
On October 28, 2008, David Bollier posted a review of Terms of Use on the On the Commons blog, where he wrote: "Now that scholars have established the value of the public domain, mapped its contours and suggested new ways to conceptualize it (e.g., let’s lose the spatial metaphors), it is refreshing to see “public domain studies” advance in new directions. In her new book, Terms of Use: Negotiating the Jungle of the Intellectual Commons, Eva Hemmungs Wirtén offers up an internationally minded, interdisciplinary meditation on the “intellectual commons.” Wirtén, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, is developing a sophisticated new frontier of public domain scholarship." He ends his review by concluding: "Terms of Use is highly readable and even entertaining. Its focus on the public domain in history, and on the clashes between North and South on IP matters, is thoughtful, provocative and long overdue."
In the review published by Canadian University Affairs, Alan MacEachern showed that he had really engaged with the book. He read it critically but also with a committment I appreciate, and ended: "Despite these problems, Terms of Use is a book hard not to like. It is written with real brio, and the author’s untiring effort to squeeze more research, more 19th- and 21st-century connections, more analysis onto every page is quite winning. (And there are worse things to be said of a book than that it could have been twice as long.) There are fascinating asides relating to the longstanding peasant right to gleaning (the collecting of stray grain missed during harvest); the Prince of Wales’s 9,000-person hunting party in India in 1876; and the rationing of Disney cartoons by 1970s Swedish television to one hour per year, on Christmas Eve. More centrally, Dr. Hemmungs Wirtén in conclusion makes a compelling case that copyright, originally designed to reward creativity and so spur innovation, is now too often used to hinder innovation. Letting ideas travel in the public domain, on the other hand, allows for their free exchange and particularly encourages the “after-thinking” about existing ideas that is essential in producing new ones. Though it can be difficult to retrace how the book came to that conclusion – is the Victorian jungle, free to all (British), a model for the intellectual commons, then? – Terms of Use is indisputably provocative. Like the commons itself, it lends itself to after-thinking."
The Learned Fangirl wrote that Terms of Use "discusses the idea of an information commons in a unique applied theory way, analyzing the way that cultural interpretation is a form of intertextuality. The book is divided into four main sections — on the public commons as a physical space, on the public commons of patents, plants, and cultural knowledge, on taxidermy(!), and the public domain (Kipling and Disney). The book will be highly useful to those trying to understand public domain and commons issues from a non-law perspective — for those who are familiar with the names, if not the works of Jurgen Habermas, John Locke (not the one on Lost), and Henry Jenkins. Unlike some other books I’ve read by those without a legal background, the law is not stated inaccurately. [...] And the review ends: "Highly recommended, especially for those willing to see where the discussions of the intellectual commons can go, looking for the jungle’s “productive, rather than destructive” elements."
Mathias Klang, the Swedish Creative Commons lead, who is a great resource for the commons community and whose capacity for bloggning I seriously admire, has been kind enough to say some really nice things about Terms of Use on his blog Sound and Fury. Refering to David Bollier's posting (see below) he writes: "And she deserves this praise. I read Terms of Use with fascination" and he ends up writing "Eva then boldly goes where the familiar story has not gone before. Exploring the parts of the public domain which should be familiar but are not. The history of lopping as a right, the imperialistic problems with Kipling, the origins and political significance of botany, botanical gardens and taxidermy. From these wide sources she deepens our area of study, forces us to go beyond the simplistic terms and understanding of the public domain as a modern romanticization of a confusing past. We need work like this to be able to understand what it is we are actually talking about. Go get the book and read it."
Matthew Rimmer has been kind enough to put Terms of Use on the top of his list "Influential Copyright Books" on Amazon! You can download a 20% discount coupon here.