The protection and dissemination of intellectual property

Abstract

F r rom the Williams and Wilkins vs. Department of Health, Education and Welfare decision of 1972, until Harper & Row vs. The Nation in 1985, it has been clear that the issue of copyright in the United States concerns two relatively large-scale principles. 1 The first is the right of citizens to have as much information as they deem appropriate--unimpeded, without artificial restraints, and with the exception of areas of national and military security. Underwriting this principle are recent executive orders that have extended to individuals the right to know the contents of any private dossiers maintained about them. These rights are intended to control the capacities of a society to gather and maintain privileged information. 2 On the other end of the information spectrum is the right to compensation or reward for work done. This right to compensation for copyrighted material does not reflect some selfish effort to create payments for a priestly class, but quite the contrary: it establishes the principle that intellectual or creative work deserves the same respect as manual labor. This right dates back to the founding of the American Republic, and it has come to symbolize personal responsibility for intellectual work. Critics of copyright have sometimes claimed that its provisions entail the restraint of information. But in point of historical fact, the reverse is more nearly the case. Following passage of the first International Copyright Act of 1891, which eliminated cheap reprint competition from foreign sources, publishing entrepreneurs in the United States were able to promote native talent without fear of being "ripped off~' These newer publishers initiated an aggressive sale orientation. They commissioned articles, offered advance payment to authors, and engaged in innovative promotional campaigns--all of which was made possible by copyright protection. As one historian of the period noted, "International Copyright passage was hailed as a professional Declaration of Independence from the dominance of European tastes. Indeed, the new financial resources made available to American writers by book publishers, syndication agencies: newspapers, and magazines were viewed as the means with which American authors could transcend the