Copyright and the Internet

Napster, Bertlesman AG form Alliance New! 11/1/00

I. The U.S. Constitution and Copyright

National Archives -- http://www.nara.gov/
U.S. Constitution
http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/conmain.html


Article 1, Section 8

Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries

U.S Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 -- http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/constitution.html

II. Copyright Office of the United States

http://www.loc.gov/copyright

III. Researching law on the web

Cornell University Law School - http://wwwsecure.law.cornell.edu/

IV. Researching Copyright law

• Cornell U. Intellectual Property Page -- http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/topic2.html#intellectual property
• Copyright and Fair Use - Stanford University -- http://fairuse.stanford.edu/
Music Library Association
• Privacy; Electronic Surveillance; FBI's "Carnivore" e-mail searching program.
  Electronic Frontier Foundation - http://www.eff.org.

Sonny Bono Copyright Act Extension

In 1998 The Sonny Bono Copyright Act extended the term of copyright by 20 years to "life of the author plus 70 years." Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), Pub.L.105 –298,§102(b)and (d),112 Stat. 2827 - 2828 (amending 17 U.S.C.§§302,304)(1998). In January, 2003 the Supreme Court upheld he extension as a constitutional exercise of Congressional authority . See Eldred v. Ashcroft, Case No. 01-618, January 15, 2003. The Supreme Court rejected arguments that the extension amounted to a "perpetual" copyright for images such as Disney's 1922 creation, "Mickey Mouse."

V. University Library Policy on Fair Use

• Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia

VI.Defenders of Piracy on the Internet High Seas

• Business Software Alliance
• NoPiracy.com
• Broadcast Music, Inc. -- http://www.bmi.com/
• ASCAP - American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers -- http://www.ascap.com/
• Motion Picture Association of America -- http://www.mpaa.org/
• US Justice Department - Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section -- The Intellectual Property Rights Initiative.
• FBI - Intellectual Property Crimes Enforcement

VII. Napster

• Transcript of US District Court Injunction (July 26, 2000)
• Appeal and amicus briefs to the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (California).
  • Business Software Allicance Amicus brief - press release.
  • Copyright Office Amicus Brief
• Bertelsman AG and Napster form Alliance to Distribute Subscription Music via the Web. (11/1/00).

To settle part of its litigation with the music industry and begin earning income, Napster has agreed with one of the litigants, the music publishing giant Bertlesman AG, to convert its "free" bulletin board to a subscription-based music distribution service. See the article in the Washington Post 11/1/00. Napster has not yet reached a settlement with other music industry plaintiffs. Currently, a Federal District Court's preliminary injunction, which prohibits Napster from offering its music bulletin board service, is on appeal in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

VIII. Gnutella

http://gnutella.wego.com

Gnutella client software is basically a "mini search engine and file serving system in one". 1

Software such as gnutella supplies millions of people with the ability to swap video and music without going to a central computer server --an enormous problem for those seeking to challenge perceived copyright infringements. MP3 brought the lawbreakers to one point in cyberspace, so shutting down the Web site effectively ends the swapping. But Gnutella breeds among individual computers. The is no central switch that turns it off.²

IX. MP3

• MP3 Ruling -U.S District Court, Southern District of NY Case No. 00cv00472 (J. Rakoff) -- http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/courtweb/
• MP3's web site -- http://www.mp3.com/
• MP3's Post-Decision Press Release

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1  Gnutella Tutorial, http://gnutella.wego.com
2  "Digital Whirl Blurs Policies", Washington Post, p. G4, Sept. 20, 2000,     http://www.washingtonpost.com.

Contact Information
Prof. Raymond J. Kimball
Information Technology Institute
Gaithersburg Business Training Center
12 South Summit Ave.
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
240-567-3825
Raymond.Kimball@montgomerycollege.edu

© Raymond J. Kimball 2000 - 2004. All rights reserved