2. What Are Intellectual Property Rights?
B. A Brief History of Copyright (continued)
The demise of censorship in England eventually led to a series of changes that slowly transformed the concept of copyright from a publisher’s to a creator’s right.19 By the time the United States was emerging as a nation, this transfer was complete. Copyright was perceived as such an important concept that it was the subject of legislation from nearly the beginning of U.S. legal history.
Although the development of copyright, and the body of law that codifies it, has been framed by political and historical circumstances, the key driver throughout its history has been technology. The invention of the printing press in the 1400s begat an era of mechanical reproduction that, with inventions such as photography, the phonograph, radio, television, photocopiers, computers, and electronic networks, continues to this day. These technologies make it possible to reproduce cheaply, rapidly, and in great quantities original works that people can distribute and profit from without concern for uses or compensation.
Historically there has been a "lag time" between the creation and use of a technology, and the appearance of laws protecting newly perceived threats generated by the technology. The first copyright laws, for example, emerged in England nearly two and one half centuries after the invention of the printing press, when a healthy production and trade in books had already developed and practices (monopolies) emerged that were seen by society as detrimental to the public good.20 This lag time has diminished significantly with successive technologies. The debates and legislative discussions about the effect of electronic networks on copyright law have emerged only twenty years after the development of these networks, and only two or three years after the development of the World Wide Web, which made these networks more publicly accessible.
Understanding the historical context of copyright is useful for those concerned about present-day challenges to the copyright regime. The digital era is simply the latest in a long series of challenges that have shaped and formed the concept of copyright. Technology-induced disruptions have threatened its balance of rights in the past, and solutions of one sort or another have been found.21 Many of the issues arising from the role of copyright in an electronic environment are based on the concern that the "balance" is being disrupted and "corrections" are needed to bring it into line once again.
| Chapter 2: What Are Intellectual Property Rights? | |
| A. Intellectual Property Rights in the United States | |
| D. The Complexity of Rights in an Electronic Environment | |
| E. Current Rights Management Methods | |
| F. The Emergence and Perseverance of Rights Management | |
| Notes | |