Internet Copyright Laws

Kevin Kearney

May 4, 2003

MGT 251 / Extra Credit

Internet Copyright Laws

A student comes home to his dorm at the University of Scranton after a rough day

of classes. With the quick internet connection provided on the school's network, the

student makes a few clicks and logs into Morpheus, a program that enables music fans to

download free music. Within a few minutes he is on his way to owning an unlimited

amount of songs at no cost. Everything this student is doing is legal, right? Wrong. The

downloaded music from the internet is copyrighted material.

Today's internet is considered an "information superhighway," a device where

anything from music, books, programs and information can be shared worldwide. Since

billions of people have the ability to access the internet, the content of the internet can be

difficult to regulate. One controversy which has risen because people can transmit and

share information broadly via the internet is that of copyright infringement. Arguments

over the rights to property on the internet have been heated. For example, Napster

(similar to Morpheus) was sued for providing software that enabled internet users to

download music at no cost. Since the internet is a device that is used worldwide,

copyright laws should exist to protect people who own copyrights so their civil liberties

are not infringed upon.

Because the internet is sometimes considered unregulated, users often assume that

the law does not apply to its use. Widespread misuse of people's intellectual property via

the internet occurs because of this belief, though anyone can access the internet. Since the

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number of people who have the ability to access the internet is so high, laws that are

made to protect people's publications in other media should also apply to protect them on

the internet.

Copyrights that protect products can sometimes be confusing to understand. The

simplest way to identify copyright infringement is to question if the copyright is handed

over with the product. For example, if a person owns a compact disc and lets a friend

borrow it, the compact disc is being passed along to the friend with the copyright. If the

person duplicates the compact disc for the friend, the compact disc is handed over

without the copyright of the original compact disc. The same is true for books, logos, and

anything else that can carry a copyright.

An excerpt from Ann Okerson's article, "Who Owns Digital Works" (published

in the magazine, "Scientific American"), clearly explains what types of property are

protected under the United States copyright law:

"The most recent revision of the U.S. copyright law, made in 1978, is far more thorough

than its predecessors. It protects creative works in general, including literature, music,

drama, pantomime, choreography, pictorial, graphical and sculptural works, motion

pictures and other audiovisual creations, sound recordings and architecture. (Patents and

trademarks are governed by their own laws, as are trade secrets.) Copyright explicitly

grants the owners of the expression of an idea the right to prevent anyone from making co

copies of it, preparing derivative works, distributing the work, performing it or displaying

it without permission"(Okerson paragraph 14).

The key is what type of works are protected by copyrights and the word

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distribution. Many types of works that are protected by copyright can easily be found and

downloaded on the internet. For example, music can be downloaded from Morpheus, or

literary works can be found with the click of the search button on any search engine

available on the internet.

How is downloading from the internet any different than other types of access,

such as borrowing from a library? Many might consider borrowing from a library as

infringing on copyright laws as well, since libraries purchase books and loan them out to

the public. Why not let a person purchase a book and place the text on the internet?

Indeed, a difference does exist. First, if the library purchases several copies of a book,

when a person, checks out the book numerous times, the library still owns only two

copies. When the book is handed over to the person, the copyright follows as well. On the

other hand, when a book is bought, either by a company or individual, and is displayed

on the internet, numerous people have the ability to access the book. People have the

ability to copy or download the book onto their computer, thus creating numerous copies

of the book from the original source. Once the book is copied or downloaded, the owner