Digital Rights

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the Internet, with its wide range of formats and diverse types of data, has made the issue of intellectual property rights a minefield of contending voices. The paper also explains how the real problem lies with the practical day-to-day understanding of what is meant by intellectual property and how it is being observed and abused online.

From the Paper:

"Elliot Zaret clearly outlines in his article, Access Denied: the Limits of Fair Use, copyright is a term that is often loaded with different and sometimes misleading interpretations. Simply put, copyright is a legal device that is intended to provide the creator of a work which conveys information or ideas with the right to certain controls over that work and the way it is used. However, as Zaret states, copyright also has another purpose and that is to advance the progress of knowledge by giving the author of a work an economic incentive to create further works. On the one hand, too little control of copyright takes away the economic incentive to create further works while on the other hand, too much copyright control denies access to creative information and halts the advancement and dissemination of ideas. It is this balancing act between authorial and publishing control and free access to information by the public that is one of the chief causes of the controversy in copyright - especially in the light of the fluid nature of the Internet and the hectic battle of words about what constitutes intellectual property and who controls it."

More papers on Digital Rights:

• Analytical Essay # 131445 : "Alternative IPR Systems and Digital Rights Management"
• Essay # 54387 : "Digital Rights Management"
• Persuasive Essay # 97668 : "Digital Rights Management"

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