Property Rights in Cyberspace: Copyright Law in the Internet Era

Abstract

ABSTRACT The rights and interests of authors, compilers, database creators and copyright owners are colliding with the rights and interests of educators, scholars, researchers, and librarians on the information superhighway. Copyright law effectively balances their competing rights and interests in traditional forms of expression and communication, but copyright's effectiveness is tested in our fast changing digital era by the ease with which ideas, information, and copyrighted materials can be reproduced, modified, linked, and transmitted to many persons in an instant. Recommendations for changes in copyright law have been made, but many persons believe that the balance is shifting too far in favor of the rights and interests of copyright owners. The debate over the appropriate balance between these competing rights and interests in cyberspace will continue with the expansion of the information superhighway.