Create Like It’s 1790

Honors Thesis Project of Jeremiah Cohick at Emerson College

Executive Summary

Our ability to freely think as a culture is being challenged by laws that protect media conglomerates and established patent holders. Create Like It’s 1790 encourages grassroots intellectual property reform by exposing arcane aspects of US intellectual property law that have become a world standard.

These issues include:

• Indefinite copyright terms preventing intellectual property from becoming public domain
• Blurred ownership of intellectual property to discourage building upon existing work
• Removal of fair use rights by digital rights management software
• An impending crisis in our idea-based economy

This project began as Jeremiah Cohick’s capstone project for the Honors Program at Emerson College.

Credits

• Production Credits
• Appropriated Content Credits