A new article by Lawrence Lessig discusses the need for what he calls "skepticism" in copyright and patent law--by which he means a pragmatic evaluation of the actual effects of the law in light of the policy it intends to implement: "It is a demand that the law justify itself, not in self-defined terms, but in terms external to the law. Does it promote innovation? Does it preserve creativity? Does it enable change?"

The only explicit mention of music is a passing reference to MP3, but I think the article is still relevant because (1) since Prof. Lessig writes at a high level of generality, what he writes implicitly applies to musical copyright and to patents on music-related software; and (2) copyright touches an on-line community like the Mudcat in more forms than just the form of copyrighted music.

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