Copyright laws have been continually scrutinised, especially within the P2P online environment since the rise and fall of Napster in the late 1990’s. In the recent controversy of Grokster Vs MGM, the Supreme Court said “file-sharing technology isn’t, in itself, illegal…technology doesn’t infringe copyrights. People infringe copyrights�? (Anon 2005, 38), further underlying the grey areas that surround the ever-reforming file-sharing copyright laws, surrounding filesharing.
Ongoing copyright debates, and the understanding that users may not be aware of the implications (Michigan State University, 2004) find P2P file-sharing programs displaying a disclaimer from P2P United (2005) ensuring they communicate to their users the importance of the legalities surrounding the issues, stating that “…all P2P users are urged to respect copyright laws and learn more about them�?.
Copyright laws for Australia aim at protecting the owner of the intellectual property, by assigning exclusive rights over the tangible form of intellectual property and creative ideas to a copyright owner. In 2002 an amendment was made to address file sharing. The objects set out in 3 of the Copyright Amendments Act 2000 state parliament's intention to balance these competing needs (Copyright Amendment, 1999).
With the intent to improve the protection for owners of copyright in relation to the use of new media and communication technologies’ copyright material, amendments have been made to the copyright objectives in order to maintain and encourage creative pursuits.
Copyright law, as outlined by the US Copyright office (2005) “generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorise others to do the following:�?
· To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;
· To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
· To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
· To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
· To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work; and
· In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
(US Copyright Office, 2005)
Anonymous. (2005). Computer World. Framingham, 39 (27): 38-39
Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Bill. (1999). House of Representatives. Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. Canberra: Australia.
Michigan State University. (2004) You downloaded what? Available: http://newsroom.msu.edu/site.indexer/1648/content.htm. [accessed 25 October 2004]
P2P United. (2005). P2P United: Fighting for the future of peer-to-peer technology. http://www.p2punited.org/copyright.php (accessed October 26, 2005).
U.S. Copyright Office. (2005). Copyright Basics (Circular 1). http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html (accessed October 26, 2005).
Kate Mitchell 22:06, 27 Oct 2005 (EST)
