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The Fight For Artists' (Copy)right Continues...

Author Karen Brooks on the real-life fight for copyright law her latest heroine Florence Stoker embarked upon, and the ways her story is important to tell today.  What many people don’t know about Florence Stoker, the wife of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, is that as his literary executor, she fought a gruelling years-long legal battle with a film company who plagiarised her husband’s novel and won an important stoush, an episode which rounds out my novel, The Extraordinary Florence Stoker.   In 1922, ten years after Bram died, Florence was sent an anonymous envelope containing a poster and program featuring a horror film being shown in Berlin. Entitled Nosferatu, and made by Prana Film, the material clearly stated the movie was based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Florence had no knowledge of this film, nor had she granted permission for the company to use her husband’s work.   Not only was Nosferatu, a complete rip-off of an already published book (using it in the original advertising meant the producers etc understood the power Bram’s book had to attract audiences), it was stolen purely to make money for Prana Film.   Furious, Florence reached out to the Society of British Authors, Composers, and Playwrights, and what followed was a long, drawn-out fight in German courts, involving British and German lawyers, the Society, and Florence, to ensure she was rightfully paid for the blatant theft of Bram’s creation.   While Florence Stoker didn’t invent copyright (the Statute of Anne had been around since 1710, and variations of that had extended the number of years an authors’ work was protected from replication) her long, drawn out case set the benchmark for any future attempts (mainly by film companies) to copy published work without paying proper recompense to the author.   When Prana declared bankruptcy, Florence had no choice but to follow the advice she was given, and demand that all copies of the film were destroyed. If that didn’t deter future moviemakers from plagiarising books and other art forms to make money from others’ creative labours, what would?   Instead of being remembered as the woman who stood up not just for her husband’s rights, thus ensuring all other artists who followed also had theirs protected, Florence became the woman who sought to destroy a piece of classic cinema. Many derogatory appellations were applied to her, particularly posthumously.    As we know, Nosferatu was never completely destroyed. Like the vampire at the heart of the tale, the film refused to die.   Yet, Florence Stoker’s landmark clash forever altered the playing field for authors and playwrights, ensuring that the burgeoning film industry in Hollywood and elsewhere at least, had to pay if they wished to use an artiste’s creative works.   And, for decades, this arrangement, when followed, worked.   Until now.   With the advent of AI and the tech barons who deploy it, not only has the work of thousands upon thousands of authors and creators - past, present, and no doubt future - been boldly and without apology stolen, supposedly to “train” AI. The original makers aren’t being offered any kind of compensation (there are some pending legal cases). Arguments as to why works have been plagiarised are being thrown around, such as “it’s for the betterment of mankind” or, “they’re being used as teaching tools.” These are disingenuous at least, and shocking in their implications for the future of human creativity and artists at worst.   Yet again, artists and their works are not just being devalued (the implication being making copies is fine), but are regarded as not deserving of compensation, even when those “scraping” (copying the material) are making millions from their re-use.  Forget enriching humanity, culture and society through the creative endeavours, labours and talent of artists, writers, actors, musicians, and others, AI is enriching its inventors, thieves by any other name who, just like Prana Film in the 1920s, seek to profit from others’ imaginations, others’ work, without remuneration.   Once again, Florence’s battle for copyright, for appropriate payment for fair use, has become relevant; urgent even. All of us creators and those who appreciate originality, what human artistic endeavours can produce, need to embrace our inner Florence and fight with her resilience and tenacity for what’s right; for what’s fair and just. This isn’t simply about money either. It’s a fight for humanity’s creative soul and imagination; a recognition of how art in its various forms uplifts and engages our emotions, inspires, and lodges in our memories, contributes meaningfully to our personal and shared histories. This is something AI, no matter how fast or clever, no matter what arguments are posited, what political arguments are forwarded, or pathetic justifications made, can ever duplicate. From a bestselling, award-winning author comes a compellingly realised story of an enigmatic figure, the beautiful 19th century muse and brilliant social powerhouse, Florence Stoker, whose life, in spite of her many gifts, was overshadowed by one of the most abiding and terrifying of contemporary culture's monsters, the vampire Dracula - her own husband's creation. Dublin, 1878. When the witty and beautiful Florence Balcombe marries up-and-coming theatre impresario and putative novelist Bram Stoker, and her dazzling literary salons make her the darling of the literary, theatre and art worlds in London, no-one is surprised. So what if she came from humble beginnings and her prior engagement to Oscar Wilde was inexplicably broken off, she was always exceptional. Besides, none of that matters now she moves in exalted circles and Bram is managing the Lyceum for Henry Irving, the leading actor of his generation. But appearances can be deceptive. Bram is in thrall to the tyrannical narcissist Henry, who is draining the life from him, and his distance from his marriage bed is noticeable. Dear friend Oscar is in court for gross indecency and Florence is afraid - for her family, of the secret she keeps and of the visions of a monstrous fanged demon that haunts her by day and night. But Florence will fight for her family and rid herself of the threats - both real and phantom - that plague her, even if it threatens her own sanity. After all, no ordinary monster can confound the extraordinary Florence Stoker. Find out more