Copyright is of considerable importance in today's global information society, and the rapid pace of technological developments has posed a significant challenge for copyright policymakers and legislators. The problems international, regional and national bodies are currently grappling with include: identifying and defining the range of rights to cover all the important economic methods of exploiting copyright works; enforcing these rights at a time when all such works have become capable of being digitized, transmitted instantaneously and, with or without authority, reproduced flawlessly and at minimal cost. Copyright in a Global Information Society examines the scope of authors' rights in relation to the exploitation of their works by broadcasting, whether terrestrial or by satellite, cabling or over computer networks, in three important jurisdictions and under relevant international conventions. The analysis traces the gradual expansion of the various exclusive rights granted by copyright law in response to technological developments and puts them in their modern context, focusing on the overarching right of public performance or communication. The author argues that the advent of modern technologies, which recognize no national boundaries, necessitate the adoption of an internationally harmonized concept of 'communication to the public' as the primary right applicable to the dissemination of copyright works in non-material form. This work is a valuable contribution to the study and understanding of copyright law and will be of great interest to academic and practising lawyers, and to those involved in shaping modern copyright policy.

This substantially revised second edition evaluates the Directive on Copyright in the Information Society and its interpretation by the European Court of Justice in the light of its implementation and application in the EU's 28 member states. Following the initial implementation of the Directive, many member states have enacted further legislation to supplement or refine their earlier implementation: this edition will take these important developments into account. Providing a snapshot of the status quo of copyright protection in the member states, this book is an indispensable tool for the national implementation of the newly adopted Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single MarketKey features of the updated second edition include:* Chapters authored by experts from all 28 member states, providing detailed analysis on how the Directive has been implemented and applied on a national level* Contextual chapters on the relevant WIPO treaties and the Directive that highlight areas of discretion left to national legislators* Updated review of the European Court's case law that serves to interpret the Directive* Expanded Foreword by Dr Jörg Reinbothe, the architect of the Directive.Combining practical information on implementation of the Directive with the latest academic research this book will be of great value to policy makers, practising lawyers and researchers alike. The book will be of particular interest for the further development of copyright in the Digital Single Market since it captures the status quo of copyright protection in the member states at a decisive moment in the legislative debate.

The evolution of activism against the expansion of copyright in the digital domain, with case studies of resistance including eBook and iTunes hacks. The movement against restrictive digital copyright protection arose largely in response to the excesses of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. In The Digital Rights Movement, Hector Postigo shows that what began as an assertion of consumer rights to digital content has become something broader: a movement concerned not just with consumers and gadgets but with cultural ownership. Increasingly stringent laws and technological measures are more than incoveniences; they lock up access to our “cultural commons.” Postigo describes the legislative history of the DMCA and how policy “blind spots” produced a law at odds with existing and emerging consumer practices. Yet the DMCA established a political and legal rationale brought to bear on digital media, the Internet, and other new technologies. Drawing on social movement theory and science and technology studies, Postigo presents case studies of resistance to increased control over digital media, describing a host of tactics that range from hacking to lobbying. Postigo discusses the movement's new, user-centered conception of “fair use” that seeks to legitimize noncommercial personal and creative uses such as copying legitimately purchased content and remixing music and video tracks. He introduces the concept of technological resistance—when hackers and users design and deploy technologies that allows access to digital content despite technological protection mechanisms—as the flip side to the technological enforcement represented by digital copy protection and a crucial tactic for the movement.

Professor Litman's work stands out as well-researched, doctrinally solid, and always piercingly well-written.-JANE GINSBURG, Morton L. Janklow Professor of Literary and Artistic Property, Columbia UniversityLitman's work is distinctive in several respects: in her informed historical perspective on copyright law and its legislative policy; her remarkable ability to translate complicated copyright concepts and their implications into plain English; her willingness to study, understand, and take seriously what ordinary people think copyright law means; and her creativity in formulating alternatives to the copyright quagmire. -PAMELA SAMUELSON, Professor of Law and Information Management; Director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, University of California, BerkeleyIn 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 publicized 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.Jessica Litman (Ann Arbor, MI) is professor of law at Wayne State University and a widely recognized expert on copyright law.

" In addition to proving virtually impossible, online enforcement of copyright may be undesirable because it risks encroaching upon fundamental rights and freedoms. However, the problem remains that creators are often not fairly remunerated for the online use of their works. This book addresses the urgent need to study pragmatic legal solutions that enable Internet users to access works in the digital environment, while assuring remuneration to rights holders and promoting the development of the information society. This study examines legalisation schemes that favour remunerated access over exclusivity and enforcement for large-scale online use by individuals. It investigates whether and to what extent these schemes (referred to as alternative compensation systems) are admissible under EU copyright law and consistent with its objectives, responding to such questions as the following in depth: - What existing copyright schemes provide an alternative to the exclusive right in copyright law? - What online rights apply to the activities of Internet users? - What types of models exist for the legalisation of online use of copyright works? - How can the public interest shape the scope of protection of copyright? - Can and should we legalise non-commercial file sharing and online use in EU copyright law? The book carefully examines these questions in light of EU primary law, relevant directives (with a focus on the InfoSoc Directive), case law (especially that of the CJEU), and legal literature in the field of copyright. The analysis culminates with a proposed blueprint for a compensated limitation for non-commercial individual use that is consistent with EU copyright law. As a thoroughly researched and balanced response to the urgent need to rethink EU copyright law in light of its lack of social acceptance and technological adequacy, this book will be of inestimable value to lawyers, policymakers, and scholars in the field, as well as to interest groups involved in discussions for reform and modernisation of EU digital copyright law. "

For the first time in the English language, this book offers the reader everything they need to know on European copyright law in one volume. Thoroughly covering all of the EU Directives and related rights, with detailed article-by-article analysis of the provisions, it is a must have for copyright lawyers across Europe and the rest of the world.

Intellectual Property: Law & the Information Society - Cases & Materials 3rd edition (2016). This Open Coursebook is an introduction to intellectual property law, the set of private legal rights that allows individuals and corporations to control intangible creations and marks-from logos to novels to drug formulae -and the exceptions and limitations that define those rights. It focuses on the three main forms of US federal intellectual property-trademark, copyright and patent, with a new chapter on Federal and state trade secret protection-but many of the ideas discussed here apply far beyond those legal areas and far beyond the law of the United States. The book is intended to be a textbook for the basic Intellectual Property class, but because it is an Open Coursebook, which can be freely edited, customized, copied and shared, it is also suitable for undergraduate classes, or for a business, library studies, communications or other graduate school class. A free downloadable version can be found at the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain website. Each chapter contains an clear introduction to the field, cases and secondary readings illustrating the structure and conflicts in the theory and doctrine of intellectual property, followed by questions to test the student's understanding. Every chapter is built around a set of problems or role-playing exercises involving the material. The problems range from a video of the Napster oral argument, with the students asked to take the place of the lawyers, to exercises counseling clients about how search engines and trademarks interact, to discussions of the First Amendment's application to Digital Rights Management or the Supreme Court's new rulings on gene patents. The readings include writers as diverse as John Locke, Mark Twain, Victor Hugo, Thomas Babington Macaulay and John Perry Barlow, former lyricist for the Grateful Dead. This edition is current as of August 2016. It includes discussions of such issues as the Redskins' trademark cancellation and the recent constitutional challenges to it, the Google Books case, the America Invents Act's changes to patent law, and the 2016 Defend Trade Secrets Act which created a new Federal trade secrecy cause of action. It is designed to be used with Boyle & Jenkins, Intellectual Property: Selected Statutes and Treaties, 2016 Edition, which is also available both as a freely downloadable Open Coursebook and a high quality, low-cost paperback. About the Authors James Boyle is William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law at Duke Law School and the former Chairman of the Board of Creative Commons. His other books include The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind Jennifer Jenkins is Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law School and the Director of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain. Her recent articles include In Ambiguous Battle: The Promise (and Pathos) of Public Domain Day, and Last Sale? Libraries' Rights in the Digital Age.