Owning jokes

In an essay entitled “Intellectual Property Norms in Stand-Up Comedy“, Professors Oliar and Sprigman of the University of Virginia present a study of how stand-up comedians have created a parallel system of protecting copyright based on social rather than legal norms. They also detail the differences that the emergence of these norms have made to the creative process. When jokes were held to be common property, comedians put less effort into individual jokes. Instead, comedians worked with short—often stolen—jokes and focused on creating performances that were tougher to duplicate. As the social system arose to protect their jokes, comedians turned to long-form routines, focusing on the text of the joke. The essay will be published in The Making and Unmaking of Intellectual Property from University of Chicago Press.