The Digitial Millenium Copyright Act Essay

In its beginning, the United States based its code of laws on the British Law (Moser & Slay, 2011, 16). Connecticut passed the first state copyright bill: an Act for the Encouragement of Literature and Genius in 1783 (Moser & Slay, 2011, 16). By 1786, twelve out of the thirteen states had passed copyright statutes. However, the fact that each state had its own copyright laws created inconsistency and inconvenience for enforcement from one state to another. A federal copyright law was necessary. On March 1783, the Continental Congress drafted the Constitutional Copyright Clause, which gave to the federal government the power to pass copyright laws (Moser & Slay, 2011, 17). The clause stipulated that the goal of the United States was to promote

B. Relevance: The Internet has changed the way we all live. It is at our disposal with many advantages and some disadvantages, piracy being one of them. The Stop Online Piracy Act,

We respectfully submit this brief amicus curiae in support of the petitioners, Eldred et al. The petitioners owned the copyrights of works now in the public domain. They challenged the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) on the grounds that the act allows copyrights to exist in perpetuity and restricts free speech, so the act violates the Copyright Clause and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Justice Ginsburg denied Eldred’s challenges, finding that the terms established by the CTEA are limited terms and that the act accommodates for petitioner’s First Amendment concerns. We submit this amicus curiae in dissent of the court opinion that upheld the CTEA.

Along with the development of a file format (MP3) to store digital audio recordings, came one of the new millennium’s most continuous debates – peer-to-peer piracy – file sharing. Internet companies such as Napster and Grokster became involved in notable legal cases in regards to copyright laws in cyberspace. These two cases are similar in nature, yet decidedly different. In order to understand the differences and similarities, one should have an understanding of each case as well as the court’s ruling.

Christopher Jones’ article “Metallica Rips Napster” is in an early summary of the 2000, Metallica v. Napster, Inc., California lawsuit. The lawsuit included the peer-to-peer file sharing website, Napster, and University of Southern California, Indiana University, and Yale University. Most people don’t even think about file sharing, in this day and age it is generally an everyday behavior. It is very simple for a document or file to be shared between friends or even strangers over the internet. However, in April of the year 2000 the heavy metal band Metallica and the peer-to-peer audio file sharing website Napster were in the center of a lawsuit that would change how online file sharing works forever.

In today’s society, internet plays a pivotal role, influencing individuals in all classes, of all ages, and in various financial backgrounds. Because the Net dominates a large portion of the population’s time, many people have become accustomed to its current policies and ease of access to different types of media. So when consumers were threatened with the possibility of change, an enthusiastic reaction occurred worldwide. Internet users today are acclimated to downloading or torrenting music, games, and movies that would normally have a fee, for free, infringing the media’s copyrights in the process. Due to the rapid growth in this illicit activity, legislations such as SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA have been proposed; however they have been met

In today’s society, it seems as if the internet has become a hot topic for politicians, and issues such as piracy, censorship, and privacy appears in the mainstream media. Whether it’s the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act informing you that some search results have been removed, news of foreign governments controlling what their citizens can and can’t view, or Apple and other corporations refusing to meet the demands of the FBI, the internet, and government dealings are closely intertwined. American media gives coverage to many of these stories but there a lot of bills, acts, laws etc. get no attention. Not only is this lack of information deceptive, but it is also dangerous for internet users. Bills such as SOPA and PIPA from 2011,

A&M Records v. Napster is a landmark case in which the application of intellectual property laws has forever impacted contemporary culture with regards to digital works. The legal issues and applicable laws presented in the instant case resulted in a holding, which set forth a precedent that has influence the mode and means of digital works distribution. The outcome of Napster affects both businesses and individuals.

The history of U.S copyright law came from England. As a matter of fact, copyright was not intended to reward creators but to prevent sedition. As the number of presses grew in late fifteenth century in England, the authorities started to grant control over the publication of books to a group of printers, called the Stationers’ Company in mid-sixteenth century. The Licensing Act of 1662 confirmed that licensed printers have the right to publish the work forever. The Stationer’s Company didn’t disappear even though the 1662 act lapsed in 1694. Rather, it shifted its focus from printers to authors. Therefore, the Parliament enacted the first copyright law in 1710, called the Statue of Anne, which protects author’s work if they registered their work to the government. Under the Statue of Anne, authors had a right to control their creations and sell their rights to the third person. U.S. Congress has revised the copyright law to broaden the sphere of copyright and to address new technologies as time goes by. This paper illustrates what have the Congress amended in the copyright law and how has the amended law impacted proprietors by looking into major revisions in U.S. copyright law.

The rise of the Internet era opened the whole new market for traditional media full of opportunities as well as threats. Online piracy being one of them because the music and film industry loses £5.4bn in a year and if it was reduced by 10% it could have created up to 13 thousand jobs in the UK. There are various attempts taken to fight with online piracy; a case study of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will be considered as well as other legislations attempting to regulate copyrights in the Internet. This

At the turn of the millenium, the music industry has been faced with an unforeseen phenomenon that has affected its very foundation - mass scale music piracy. The decline of CD sales in the past three years have been blamed on the availability of songs that can be downloaded from Internet sites and service providers like Napster, KaZaA and Morpheus free of charge. Today the issue of intellectual copyright infringement in music has been taken more seriously than ever before, as large record labels and companies like Sony and EMI struggle to maintain healthy album sales in the face of online music piracy. In addition, music piracy affects more than just the corporate world - it affects the very

In 1998 the world saw the passing of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which was an attempt by the US government to combat copyright to strengthen legal protection of intellectual property rights holders in the midst of emerging new information communication technologies. The law put pressure on internet service providers in order for service provider’s legal liabilities to be limited in the event one of their users violated copyright

With the onward march of civilization, copyright assumed more significance. It was realized that the role played by the authors and publishers in the development of society by the creation and dissemination of their works was required to be supported, encouraged and adequately rewarded. As a result, the Act of Queen Anne was passed in 1709, in the United Kingdom. This was the world 's first copyright law which laid down three basic rules. Firstly, the authors of books not yet printed were to have the sole right of printing for 14 years from the date of publication. However, after

Historically, copyright’s originated during Renaissance in Italy. But, the English Statute of Anne of 1710 is the most famous early copyright law and seen as the origin of the copyright law. It provides statutory protection in books and other writing as it explicitly introduced the concept of an author being the owner of the copyright.

The Law of Copyright and its historical development - Tracing back the historical development of copyright protection of the authors work, the idea of copyright protection only began to emerge with the invention of printing, which made it possible for the literary works to be duplicated by mechanical processes. Prior to that, hand copying was the sole mean of reproduction. Following Gutenberg 's invention of printing press in 1436 in Germany, the necessity of protecting printers and booksellers was recognized there. Consequently, German Principalities granted certain privileges to printers and publishers and also authors. The art of printing spread quickly in Europe, King Richard Ill in 1483 allowed foreigners to import manuscripts and books into England and print them there. As a result of this, much of the book trade came in the hands of foreigners. However, this freedom enabled England to emerge as a major center of printing trade in Europe. The spread of technological innovation led to creation of a class of intermediaries who made the initial investment in bringing out a book i.e. printers who at the same time also functioned as booksellers. They were called 'Stationers ' in England .