Copyright Code in Verse

A non-lawyer from Israel named Yehuda Berlinger who keeps a blog on board games sat down and put the U.S. Copyright Act to verse. The verses are numbered by the section of the statute they describe. The poem is by turns bad, funny, insightful and brilliant. It's also an implicit critique of the ridiculously bad prose our lawmakers use for these statutes.

Yehuda claims it took him only three hours. Hmmmm.

It should become required reading for aspiring IP attorney. It's a great fun way to learn what the law is and where to find it. The Copyright Act is mind-numbingly difficult to follow and tough to navigate and cross-reference. Almost no one sits down and reads it front to back just for kicks. Of those that do, certainly few understand it.

We should all salute Yehuda's sense of fun and fearlessness. Too many lawyers think it's all a big pain to wade through all of the fine print.

The U.S. Copyright code, in verse
These verses describe
All the copyright code
Of the U. S. of A.
Written down as an ode

Copyright 2006, Yehuda Berlinger. Permission is hereby granted to copy in part or in whole along with this notice, attribution, and a link back to this web site.