Page 221 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1522 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Copyright law has come under criticism recently for The new statutes have effects beyond file sharing.
many reasons. As with laws governing many types of Because creators have copyright in their works, whether
property, the law is subject to interpretation about what registered or not, and because many ordinary works lack
constitutes infringement of copyright. Currently, the U.S. a known or easily available public record of who cur-
Copyright Office defines infringement as any action rently owns their copyright, many works of culture from
involving the reproduction, distribution, performance, or about 1920 are in a kind of limbo.They may be impor-
making public of a copyrighted work without the express tant or valuable culturally or as works of art; they may be
permission of the copyright owner. But one may be disintegrating, as their pulp paper rots or their celluloid
exempt from infringement charges if the reproduction is decays. But when, as is frequently the case, their owner-
done by a nonprofit library, archive, or educational insti- ship is unknown, no one will be willing to reprint or
tution and is considered to be fair use. The boundaries republish them—or even to preserve them in digital
between fair use and copyright infringement can be un- form—because of the possibility that the copyright
clear or contested, for the law does not draw a clear line holder will come out of obscurity and sue for infringe-
between the two. ment, even if the holder had no intention of preserving
Copyright law originally was intended to protect or publishing the work.
authors from having others copy and sell their work for
Peter G. Stillman
profit. With the explosion of file sharing, “peer-to-peer”
(P2P) networks, copyright law and its enforcement have See also Capitalism; Communism and Socialism; Feudal-
changed significantly. Recent statutes such as the “No Elec- ism; Global Commons; Indigenous Peoples Movements
tronic Theft” Act (1997) and the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act of 1998 state that individuals who repro-
duce or distribute copyrighted material—even if they have Further Reading
no intention of profiting from it or are unaware of any Aristotle. (1997). The politics of Aristotle (P. L. P. Simpson,Trans.,Vol. 1).
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
harm they may cause—are subject to civil and criminal Berle,A.A. (1954). The twentieth century capitalist revolution. New York:
prosecution.The ninth circuit court of appeals in the case Harcourt, Brace, and World.
Blackstone,W. (1979). Commentaries on the laws of England. Chicago:
of A&M Records v. Napster (2001) reasoned that the
Chicago University Press. (Original work published 1765–1769)
Audio Home Recording Act (1992)—which exempted Congost, R. (2003). Property rights and historical analysis: What rights?
from prosecution individuals using digital or analog What history? Past and Present, 181, 73–106.
Critchley, J. S. (1978). Feudalism. Boston: George Allen & Unwin.
devices to make musical recordings for their personal use Cronon,W. (1983). Changes in the land: Indians, colonists, and the ecol-
—did not apply to individuals who reproduced copy- ogy of New England. New York: Hill and Wang.
De Bary, W. T., Chan, W., & Watson, B. (1960). Molders of the Confu-
righted works on computers, and hence peer-to-peer net-
cian tradition. In Sources of Chinese Tradition. New York: Columbia
works such as Napster. In particular, file sharing is University Press.
thought to be most commonly practiced by younger, Ewart, K. (1950). Copyright. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press.
cybersavvy generations, and thus the Recording Industry Harmon,A. (2003, May 2). Suit settled for students downloading music
Association of America (RIAA) has increasingly made online. The New York Times, p.A6. Retrieved June 11, 2004, from Lex-
isNexis database.
peer-to-peer networks on college campuses the target of
Lessig, L. (2004). Free culture. New York: Penguin Press.
their lawsuits. In May of 2003, four college students set- Locke, J. (1980). Second treatise of government (C. D. Macpherson, Ed).
tled a lawsuit in which they agreed to pay the RIAA sums Indianapolis, IN: Hackett. (Original work published 1680)
Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1998). The communist manifesto. New York:
varying from $12,000 to $17,000. While actions taken Penguin.
against file sharers have had some effect on file sharing, it Mencius (1970). Mencius (D. C. Lau,Trans.). Middlesex, England: Pen-
guin Books.
remains to be seen how copyright law, the market, and file
Pennock, J., & Chapman, J. (Eds.). (1980). Property. New York: New York
sharing will evolve in response to peer-to-peer networks. University Press.