Lecture November 18


The role of the State.1 – 18 November 2002


Overview of next 4 lectures:


1. Feather’s thesis: “the state can intervene in four ways between the information owner and the information-seeker: (see kit)
The state can:
- “protect information as a piece of property” (copyright laws) - TODAY
- “prevent the unauthorized use of information that has been legitimately collected” (privacy laws) NOV. 20
- “guarantee the right of access to certain categories of information to citizens” (freedom of information legislation) NOV. 27
- “prevent the dissemination of information” (censorship laws)** NOV. 25
** the most difficult area to explore
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Overview of Today’s lecture:

1. Definitions
2. Background
3. How has copyright been compromised in order to accommodate society’s needs for access to information?
4. How does copying technology change the ability to protect copyright (from the printing press to the Xerox machine to the Internet?)
5. Given this significant change in the technologies, what’s the point of trying to maintain pretence of protecting copyright? Why are efforts made to enforce it?
__________________
1. Defintions

copyright: the protection of “intellectual property”

- think of copyright as a monopoly, but we agree to this kind of monopoly because the benefits to society (supposedly) outweigh the costs:

- Copyright ensures that new ideas get developed and rewarded and then society will benefit from them.
ISSUE: Balance between our need for readily available access to information with creators’ needs to be rewarded for their work.

Defn: “Copyright grants the owners of the expression of an idea the right to prevent anyone from making copies of it, preparing derivative works, distributing the work, performing it or displaying it without permission..”

- so (some) governments award “intellectual property rights” to the developers of ideas….(not China)

- copyright also protects the integrity of the original—example of the artist Michael Snow’s “Flight Stop” at the Eaton Centre

- but in pre-electronic age, term property consistent with the economic reality:

buy a House—own THAT house and no one else can own it.

- now that information can be digitized, it can be freed from the concept of physical object....

- you can copy the original property without stealing the original

2. Background:

Four kinds of "intellectual property": copyright, trademarks (protect corporate logos), trade secrets, and patents
--> the law comes into play ONLY when the work of the intellect is fixed in some tangible form: "when an idea becomes a thing."

Patents – granted for ideas that make things, or that make things do things (e.g., better mouse trap)

patents began in a world of machines and chemical processes (the substantial world); now into realm of thought—software and algorithms used to be unpatentable. HOWEVER, software the fastest growing patent category esp. in e-commerce:
(not the program code – that’s protected under copyright)

some examples of patents – One Click r on Amazon.com

(Gleik, The New York Times Magazine, March 12, 2000)

Result (according to Gleik) – each patent (good for 20 years) a “restraint on trade” – exclusive rights conveyed by a patent translate into higher prices for consumers…system is out of control…

What is included in copyright?
-books, articles (protected 50 years past author’s death**)
-photographs
-paintings, musical scores, dramas, fictional characters (e.g., Mickey Mouse)* (supposed to be in public domain by -004, but U.S. passed law to extend property rights for another 20 years**)
-letters, memos
-computer databases
(**to be considered now in Canada, but being challenged by U.S. lawyers)

3. How has copyright been compromised in order to accommodate society’s needs for access to information?

You can reproduce parts of the contents of “intellectual property” if:

- acknowledge the other person's idea *

(*if in a university, don’t do this you are charged with plagiarism – or stealing of intellectual property. Penalized….)

-operate within Canadian Copyright Act (or “fair dealing”)

Principles of “fair dealing”:

-the use is not for profit or commercial use (private study, research, etc.)
-the use is a portion of the original
-the impact of the use on the potential market for the original work is not significant

4. How does copying technology change the ability to protect copyright (from the printing press to the Xerox machine to the Internet?)

copyright on books easier to enforce in era of printing press:

- few printing presses
-difficult to hide
-took time, labour and expense to produce a bootleg book
-who would distribute them? sell them?

with VCR, xerox and tape recorder, enforcement of copyright made more difficult:

xerox:

- machines costly, labour involved
-quality of copy deteriorated

So production of original works still profitable

BUT with networks:

- transmitted instantly
-little cost (once hardware and network set up)
-little risk of detection
-no one to ensure the original hasn’t been tampered with

5. Given this significant change in the technologies, what’s the point of trying to maintain pretence of protecting copyright? Why are efforts made to enforce it?

because
1) it’s still in the interests of the original artists to get some money.
BUT MOSTLY because:
2) it is economically very profitable for large corporations who OWN copyright to insist on copyright
- e.g., software companies (e.g., Microsoft) – vs. Linux (“open source” fear expressed by one programmer)

Given the economic reasons for “owners” of copyright to enforce their rights, what solutions are proposed?

- One solution—Lehman proposals in U.S.

Any information alighting for any length of time in your computer is subject to copyright enforcement (unless the owner specifically gives up her ownership)

Implications??

This page last revised 9/17/02