Digital copyright: protecting intellectual property on the Internet ...

Jessica Litman

Prometheus Books, 2001 - Law - 208 pages

In 1998, copyright lobbyists succeeded in persuading Congress to enact laws greatly expanding copyright owners' control over individuals' private uses of their works. The efforts to enforce these new rights have resulted in highly publicised legal battles between established media, and new upstarts. In this enlightening and well-argued book, law professor Jessica Litman questions whether copyright laws crafted by lawyers and their lobbyists really make sense for the vast majority of us. Should every interaction between ordinary consumers and copyright-protected works be restricted by law? Is it practical to enforce such laws, or expect consumers to obey them? What are the effects of such laws on the exchange of information in a free society? Litman's critique exposes the 1998 copyright law as an incoherent patchwork. She argues for reforms that reflect common sense and the way people actually behave in their daily digital interactions. This paperback edition includes an afterword that comments on recent developments, such as the end of the Napster story, the rise of peer-to-peer file sharing, the escalation of a full-fledged copyright war, the filing of lawsuits against thousands of individuals, and the June 2005 Supreme Court decision in the Grokster case.

What people are saying

User Review -

Great account of how technology has influenced the development of copyright. Especially useful for its account of how copyright policy is actually hammered out.

Review: Digital Copyright: Protecting Intellectual Property on the Internet

User Review  - Kristi - Goodreads

For a school book, this is actually not bad. Pretty good writing style, and very informative.

Contents

• Acknowledgments: 9
• The Art of Making Copyright Laws: 22
• Copyright and Compromise: 35

Bibliographic information

• Title: Digital copyright: protecting intellectual property on the Internet ...
• Author: Jessica Litman
• Edition: 2
• Publisher: Prometheus Books, 2001
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Jan 3, 2008
• ISBN: 1573928895, 9781573928892
• Length: 208 pages
• Subjects: Copyright; Copyright and electronic data processing; Copyright and electronic data processing/ United States; Internet; Law / Computer & Internet; Law / Intellectual Property / Copyright