What Are Copyright Rules on the World Wide Web?
New Hampshire Business Review, 06/16/2000, Vol.
22 Issue 13 by John Bosen
With the rapid technological
advancements of the past decade and the explosive increase in the numbers
of Internet users around the world, questions have arisen regarding
the application of American copyright law to materials on the Internet.
What are the intellectual property rights to the vast volume of material?
What is an individual entitled to do with visual, audio and digital
information that he or she encounters over the Internet? Can the U.S.
Copyright Act of 1976 be effectively applied to preserve the delicate
balance between the rights of creators of material and the rights of
the public to use it?
Under the Copyright Act of 1976, any original expression is eligible
for copyright protection when it becomes fixed in a tangible form. Such
expressions may include literary, dramatic and musical works, pictorial,
graphic and sculptural works, audio-visual works, sound recordings and
architectural works. A person who holds a copyright, usually the creator
of the work, essentially has the exclusive right to control the copying
of that expression.
The only limitation on that right is the fair use of the Copyright Act,
which allows the public to use copyrighted material for purposes such
as criticism, comment, research and education. A work becomes eligible
for copyright protection at the moment that it becomes fixed; no official
registration is necessary. (However, only a registered copyright holder
obtains right to sue and recover statutory damages.) As much of what
can be found is original expression that has become fixed in a tangible
form, it follows that much of what can be found on the Web is protected
by copyright law.
Individual Web pages, including text, graphics and visual images, are
all subject to copyright protection, as are novels, musical selections,
news stories, electronic bulletin board messages and even e-mail.
As a practical matter, this means that an individual who accesses material
on the Internet is not free to use it in any way that he or she wishes.
That individual is limited by the confines of the Copyright Act and
the fair use exception. To further complicate matters, material may
be copyrighted even if it is not expressly labeled as such. Therefore,
Internet users should presume that material is copyrighted, unless it
is expressly labeled as being in the public domain.
Much of the debate about applying traditional copyright law to this
medium has centered on the question of where copying actually occurs.
When an Internet user attempts to access a Web page, the server of the
Web page sends all the HTML information to the user's Web browser. That
HTML information includes the graphics, the text, the spacing and the
imaging contained on the page -- essentially the entire design of the
page. The individual user's Web browser then utilizes the HTML information
it has been sent to construct a copy of that page from the user's computer.
Some argue that this alone is sufficient to constitute copying of copyrighted
material. Others argue that merely accessing the Web page is not enough
and that copying only occurs when the HTML code is saved in the hard
drive of one's computer.
The most recent legislation in this area, the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act of 1998, does not squarely address this issue. However, the spirit
of compromise shown in its passage indicates that the legislature is
willing to modify the Copyright Act only to the extent necessary to
maintain the balance between the rights of copyright owners and those
of the general public.
~~~~~~~~
By John Bosen
John Bosen is a lawyer specializing in high-tech issues
with the firm
of Watson & Bosen in Portsmouth.
_________________
Copyright of New Hampshire Business Review is the property of New Hampshire
Business Review and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple
sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express
written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles
for individual use.
Source: New Hampshire Business Review, 06/16/2000, Vol. 22 Issue 13,
p29, 2p, 1c.
Item Number: 3231586
San Mateo Community College District