Copyright and Technological Change

Overview
Although Congress has always had to reckon with technological change, the new information and communications technologies available today are challenging the intellectual property system in ways that may only be resolvable with substantial changes in the system or with new mechanisms to allocate both rights and rewards. Once a relatively slow and ponderous process, technological change is now outpacing the legal structure that governs the system, and is creating pressures on Congress to adjust the law to accommodate these changes. The pressures are coming from a number of different parties, and they are motivated by a wide range of concerns:


 * Authors, publishers, film makers, and producers; representatives of the recording industry; and other copyright holders whose works can be delivered electronically. This group is concerned that technologies such as computers and the Internet are so widely used that they undermine their ability to enforce their copyrights. They are calling on Congress to adopt stronger enforcement measures. Alternatively, some group members would like Congress to provide new ways to protect their incomes, such as imposing taxes or royalties on blank disks or Internet access.


 * Designers and producers of functional works that do not fit comfortably into existing categories of copyright law. This group is concerned that, given the uncertainties in the law, their works will be inadequately protected. They are calling for more explicit and extensive protection under existing or under new laws.


 * Database producers, information analysts, and others who package existing information for specific uses. This group opposes restrictions on the use and reuse of copyrighted materials. They also want incentives to be reallocated so that they receive a greater financial return for the value that they add to information by analyzing, reorganizing, and packaging it.


 * Manufacturers of equipment capable of copying, reproducing, or recording. Members of this group oppose the imposition of taxes or royalties on tapes and any other actions that might increase the cost of their products to the consumer, or that make them less convenient to use. They claim that they aid copyright holders by creating new markets for products and so should not be penalized by having taxes imposed.

need to do their work prohibitively expensive. Some members of this group seek to exempt educational uses from the law. Others are calling for licensing agreements that would allow them to use copyrighted materials at reduced rates.
 * Educators and scientists. Members of this group generally oppose extensions of the law, arguing that such extensions would make the resources and materials they

offices. They want assurance that they can continue to copy motion pictures, CDs, and other information for their private use.
 * The general public. Many people are becoming increasingly accustomed to having new technology available at low cost to use as they please in their homes and


 * Developing countries. Many developing countries want to use American intellectual property products to further their social, economic, and political development. These nations believe that the United States and other industrialized nations should relax intellectual property protection so that they can afford to make use of these new products and services.

These competing interests give rise to policy questions that resist quick, simple answers. Part of the problem is that new technologies are bringing new parties into the copyright debate, many of whom hold values and attitudes that differ from those of more traditional players &mdash; the authors, printers, and publishers, for example. The extreme case of this is the so-called computer “hacker” who believes that software and other forms of information should be shared freely. Holding less extreme but more common views are those members of the public who believe that they should be able to continue to use the new technologies to copy materials, at home, for their own personal use. In addition, there are those secondary information providers &mdash; information brokers and database producers, for example &mdash; who, in contrast to the original creators of information, want fewer restrictions on the use and reuse of information.

Complicating copyright issues even further is the fact that technology is also changing the roles that people involved in the copyright system play. In fact, taking advantage of the new technologies, many people now play multiple roles, and their attitudes about intellectual property protection may vary accordingly.

The relationship among traditional players are also changing, breaking down old alliances, and generating some new ones. Working online, for example, the author of a book can now edit, print, publish, and distribute his works; tasks that were traditionally within the purview of the publisher. Under these circumstances, the author may be less inclined to assign his rights to the publisher.

Similarly, because it provides new outlets for distribution such as pay-per-view cable television, DVDs and the Internet, technology is also changing the relationships among film makers, film producers, and film distributors. Transmitting his works directly to the user online, for example, an independent film maker can circumvent the major film companies and, in the same fashion, a major film company can avoid dealing with theater chains.