Duke University's Center for the Study of the Public Domain has taken on the complexities of copyright, particular fair use, in comic book form. I came across it quite by accident, but it nonetheless gave me a chuckle and an expanded understanding of fair use and it's vagueries of meaning. It focuses particularly on the considerations facing documentary film makers, who frequently face the problem that the most effective documentation of a movement, man, or metropolis requires the use of copyrighted material.
It also led me to the consideration that very little of art, or even creative work at all, doesn't build on existing copyrighted material. Sometimes it is as obvious as Warhol photocopying "The Last Supper", but more often the influence is subtle. The question of where art begins and imitation ends is an old one, but I fear the recent strengthening of copyright law threatens to legally enforce the aesthetic question on the side of imitation, to the detriment of art.
