Week 10 Blog #2: Kirby Ferguson and Separating Property from Remixes

In his Ted Talk, Kirby Ferguson notes the inability of the American patent system to understand the ideology of the term "remix". Remixing involves three techniques according to Mr. Ferguson: Copy, transform, and combine. He demonstrates this in music with the example of Bob Dylan, who some argued simply stole other individuals' songs. But copying and remixing are two separate actions. Bob Dylan, as Mr. Ferguson notes, copied melodies, but then transformed them and combined them with new lyrics which were frequently their own concoction of previous stuff. That is remixing, building upon the work of old to produce something new and possibly, better overall.

I agree with Mr. Ferguson's argument that the American patent system runs counter to this notion of building on the work of others. The idea of property fits well in the case of land because you have to defend it from squatters and such, but the idea of "property" when it pertains to intellectual products and ideas runs into a grey area. Yes, it is important to make sure that ideas aren't simply stolen and taken credit for by individuals who did not originally come up with the idea or product. That is a necessary defense in the system that is built in place to promote innovation and continually building products. But the issue that comes up is those that have built themselves up through recreation and consistently mixing and matching with prior inventions now seeking to defend themselves from those looking to build on their ideas.

Take the case of Steve Jobs. Mr. Ferguson showed the video of Jobs in 1996, claiming that Apple sought to take prior inventions and build upon it to create their own machines, or as he would quote from Picasso, "Good artists copy. Great artists steal". By 2010, Jobs wanted to "destroy Android because it's a stolen product" and proceeded to patent the "slide-to-unlock" technology in iPhones.

The question that arises here is how are we allowed to progress in this system? When one takes a few steps in innovation, that individual becomes the target of various organizations for infringing on their "intellectual property". Every invention that comes about is built upon the ideas and products of those that have come before it, but in the system we live in today, it seems inventors and organizations want to reject this "remix" ideal. We are dependent on one another and Mr. Ferguson showcases this brilliantly. That is how innovation can take root and really change the world we live in.