Copyright in cyberspace: don't throw out the public interest with the bath water

Article Abstract:

Statutory laws governing cyberspace intellectual property should be allowed to evolve slowly. The Green Paper on intellectual property rights is overly aggressive in its protection recommendations. Public access should not be decided along economic lines, but broad restrictions could prevent people from viewing materials traditionally available in libraries. The forces shaping access guidelines are an overall shift to electronic libraries, the need to copy documents, and the use of technolocks. Copyright owners will rely more on technolock protection than on the law itself. Preserving public access should be the chief concern in making laws.

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Edited comments concerning managing copyright infringement in electronic fora

Article Abstract:

A 1966 presidential commission decided software, although a form of technology, should not be protected by the patent system. Copyright law became the means of protecting software intellectual property. Courts gradually addressed this misapplication of the laws. The Green Paper report, issued by the National Information Infrastructure Group, recommends copyright law changes, principally by adding a digital distributor's right. This right could upset the balance between end-users and publishers. A better approach would be to let a body of common law copyright protections develop gradually for the information superhighway.

Software

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Keynote address

Article Abstract:

John Perry Barlow, Executive Committee Chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, believes the virtualizing trend is a fundamental technologically-motivated shift affecting the entire human race. Cyberspace is a unique universe. First Amendment freedoms, intellectual property rights, and censorship are problematic issues in cyberspace. However, Barlow says jurisdictional authorities and defined communities already exist in cyberspace, usually protected by passwords. He also believes intellectual property issues can be handled by applying common law principles.

Speeches, lectures and essays, Transcript, Barlow, John Perry

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