Copyright Vigilantes: Intellectual Property and the Hollywood Superhero explains superhero blockbusters as allegories of intellectual property relations. In movies based on characters owned by the comics duopoly of DC and Marvel, no narrative recurs more often than a villain’s attempt to copy the superhero's unique powers. In this volume, author Ezra Claverie explains this fixation as a symptom of the films’ mode of production. Since the 1930s, the dominant American comics publishers have treated the creations of artists and writers as work for hire, such that stories and characters become company property. Thus, publishers avoided sharing the profits both from magazine sales and from licensing characters into other media. For decades, creators have challenged this regime, demanding either shares of profits or outright ownership of their creations. Now that the duopoly rents, licenses, and adapts superheroes for increasingly expensive franchises, and for growing international audiences, any challenge to intellectual property relations threatens a production regime worth billions of dollars. Duopoly movies, therefore, present any attempt to break the superhero’s monopoly on their powers as the scheme of terrorists, mad scientists, or space Nazis—assuaging studio anxieties and revealing the fears of those who benefit most from the real-world ownership of superheroes. Weaving together legal analysis, Marxist political economy, and close readings of movies, Copyright Vigilantes explains the preoccupations of Hollywood’s leading genre.

How and why NGOs are increasingly taking independent and direct action in global law enforcement, from human rights to the environment Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have generally served as advocates and service providers, leaving enforcement to states. Now, NGOs are increasingly acting as private police, prosecutors, and intelligence agencies in enforcing international law. NGOs today can be found investigating and gathering evidence; suing and prosecuting governments, companies, and individuals; and even catching lawbreakers red-handed. Examining this trend, Vigilantes beyond Borders considers why some transnational groups have opted to become enforcers of international law regarding such issues as human rights, the environment, and corruption, while others have not. Three factors explain the rise of vigilante enforcement: demand, supply, and competition. Governments commit to more international laws, but do a poor job of policing them, leaving a gap and creating demand. Legal and technological changes make it easier for nonstate actors to supply enforcement, as in the instances of NGOs that have standing to use domestic and international courts, or smaller NGOs that employ satellite imagery, big data analysis, and forensic computing. As the growing number of NGOs vie for limited funding and media attention, smaller, more marginal, groups often adopt radical strategies like enforcement. Looking at the workings of major organizations, including Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and Transparency International, as well as smaller players, such as Global Witness, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and Bellingcat, Vigilantes beyond Borders explores the causes and consequences of a novel, provocative approach to global governance.

"This book examines many examples of how the community has responded when the justice system is perceived to fail."--Book jacket.

CHRISTMAS TALES includes three short stories celebrating the magic of Christmas. Heartwarming contemporary fantasies all, this collection - which also includes a handful of original holiday song lyrics - will bring the spirit of Christmas to your heart.

The joint-use college/public library can be an ideal solution to serving patrons while managing overextended resources, and this illuminating book scrutinizes successes and failures of the joint-use model.

eBay is the world's largest marketplace, and a worldwide phenomenon! Since the first edition of The eBay Book in June 2004, both the number of people using eBay, and the number of amazing stories of their experiences, have continued to grow at an amazing rate.In the last year alone, over 1 million new users signed up to eBay.co.uk, and the total number of users hit the 10 million mark in February 2005. In fact, people in the UK spend more time on eBay than on any other website, making it the most popular brand name on the internet. It has over 3 million items for sale in its auctions at any one time, and among these are every type of collectable and consumer goods imaginable.eBay provides a simple and amazingly effective way for anybody to auction items that they want to sell - whether they are antiques, books, computers, sports equipment, vinyl records, DVDs, clothing, jewellery, celebrity memorabilia or in fact almost anything - and allows potential buyers to browse and bid on this vast catalogue from the comfort of their own homes.In this fully revised and updated edition of The eBay Book, David Belbin, a long time eBayer, explains how eBay.co.uk works, and how to get the most out of it, whether you are a buyer or a seller. He takes you through the key features of the site, step-by-step, advising on the tactics you can employ when bidding and selling, and explains how to minimise the fees you pay and just why your feedback rating is so important. He also explores the best ways to pay for goods and what to do if your transactions go wrong. This hugely readable book also contains a wealth of case studies, which draw on the knowledge and experience of a wide variety of eBayers, eachwith their own view of the eBay phenomenon.For newcomers, this is an indispens

A vigilante group is an armed private group that has taken the law into its own hands or that has the announced potential of doing so. There are quite a number of such organisations in the contemporary United States, and many have members who are said to be anti-government, racist or both. There is a strong history of vigilante activity in the United States that is unique in modern world history. In order to avoid civil disturbances, Congress and a number of state legislatures have passed laws governing the organisation, instruction and activities of private groups assembled to drill with, practice with, or demonstrate the used of firearms or explosives. This is a brief overview of those laws.