The lecture is free and open to the public.
McLeod’s work at the University of Iowa focuses on popular music and the cultural impact of intellectual property law. He is the author of Freedom of Expression®: Overzealous Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity and creator of several short films on intellectual property law.
A self-proclaimed intellectual property prankster, McLeod trademarked the phrase “Freedom of Expression” to criticize the stronghold intellectual property law has on individual creative expression.
His book explores how contemporary eagerness to privatize personal expression deviates from the original intent and integrity of intellectual property law as it was created.
“In January of 1998 I was granted ownership of the phrase ‘Freedom of Expression’ by the United States Patent and Trademark Office,” McLeod writes on his Web site, www.kembrew.com. “It was a conceptual art coup I could never have pulled off if not for the fact that the U.S. government doesn't understand irony.”
McLeod is associate professor of communication studies at the University of Iowa, co-producer of the documentary “Copyright Criminals: This Is a Sampling Sport” and author of Owning Culture: Authorship, Ownership, and Intellectual Property Law.
McLeod is the first of three guest speakers featured in the Oxbridge public lecture series for fall 2008.
John Witte Jr., a professor of law at Emory University and director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, will speak Oct. 23 on the topic, “Separation of Church and State in American History and Today: Facts, Fictions and Future Challenges,” at 4 p.m. in the Evans Auditorium.
Norman Fletcher, former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court and an attorney with Brinson, Askew, Berry, Seigler, Richardson and Davis in Rome, will follow Nov. 13 with his presentation, “The First Under Fire: Contemporary Challenges to the First Amendment,” at 7 p.m. in Berry’s Science Auditorium
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