Reproduce

Reproduce

The fundamental right to reproduce copyrighted works in copies and phonorecords is implicated in innumerable online transactions. Indeed, because of the nature of computer-to-computer communications, reproduction is implicated in most online transactions. For example, when a computer user accesses a document resident on another computer, the image on the user's screen exists only by virtue of the copy that is reproduced in the user's computer memory. It has long been clear under U.S. law that the placement of copyrighted material into a computer's memory is a reproduction of that material (because the work in memory then may be, in the law's terms, "perceived, reproduced, or . . . communicated . . . with the aid of a machine or device").

The 1976 Copyright Act, its legislative history, the CONTU Final Report, and repeated holdings by courts make it clear that in each of the instances set out below, one or more copies is made.


 * When a work is placed into a computer, whether on a disk, diskette, ROM, or other storage device or in RAM for more than a very brief period, a copy is made.


 * When a printed work is "scanned" into a digital file, a copy &mdash; the digital file itself &mdash; is made.


 * When other works &mdash; including photographs, motion pictures, or sound recordings &mdash; are digitized, copies are made.


 * Whenever a digitized file is "uploaded" from a user's computer to a website or other server, a copy is made.


 * Whenever a digitized file is "downloaded" from a website or other server, a copy is made.


 * When a file is transferred from one computer network user to another, multiple copies generally are made.