Wang, Shujen. “Recontextualizing Copyright: Piracy, Hollywood, the State, and Globalization.” Cinema Journal 43 (2003): 25-43.

Shujen Wang is a professor of media and film studies at Emerson College. In this article she discusses transnational copyright governance among other topics. Her analysis looks at the qualities of both copyright owners and users. In general she says that the state continues to play a prominent role in intellectual property (IP) and information technology (IT) policy making. In addition the consumer has an active role in their infringing use of copyrighted material. This is a general description of her task. More nuanced is how she employed three prominent experts in the field of sociology namely, Scott Lash, John Urry and Manuel Castells. Their views may coincide with Karnow’s about the structure of culture as it is today. The virtual reality or information structure is highly abstract and variable. Wang goes on to expand on this point and the need to examine these topics under the description of her task as mentioned prior. So these authors initially act as a backdrop for her task and sub sequentially remains a critical theme in her work.

Similarly, this article acts to compliment and expand on Karnow’s position. This is not only an information based culture; it is also that culture has become information.

 

No longer can Hollywood live in "splendid isolation." Many sectors of commerce including film seek to expand into the global marketplace, but they do not want to abandon their current practices of US copyright law in order to do so. The Berne Convention of 1886 was the first international agreement for intellectual property protection, but the US didn't join it for over 100 years. Through a process of changing certain copyright laws, the US was able to join the convention while still maintaining a uniquely American form of copyright law. This has led to major expansions in US economies such as film, where Hollywood has been able to increase their profits and distribution many times over thanks, in part, to the unique ways that the United States approached the Berne Convention.