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\rightline{\sevenrm April 10, 2000}
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\centerline{\largerbold Intellectual Property in the Digital Era}

\bigskip

\noindent {\bf Reminder}

\smallskip

\noindent This is part of my March $23^{\rm rd}$ e-mail to the class:

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{\narrower\vx\baselineskip=.7\baselineskip\parindent=.7\parindent

$\scriptstyle \ldots$ I'd like to tell you about an opportunity. There will
be a meeting discussing the ``Management of Digital Intellectual
Property'' at Rutgers on April 17 and 18. I realize that most of you are
quite busy, but several of the talks are likely to be both interesting
and accessible (NOT ``technical''). You may consider coming. Here are
specific examples of such talks:

\sk

\noindent 1.~Title: {\eightsl Stronger copyright protection for
   cyberspace: desirable, inevitable, and irrelevant}. Monday, April
   17, 11:15-12:00. An abstract of the talk is available at

\centerline{\eighttt http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/Management2/abstracts.html\#odlyzko}

\sk

\noindent 2.~A discussion entitled {\eightsl Summary of the National
Research Council's ``Digital Dilemma'' report: Findings, non-findings,
and implications for the technical agenda}. This is a major recent
report, and several of the people who participated in writing the
report will discuss it. This report will certainly be a large
influence shaping the laws and practices of the world you'll live
in. Tuesday, April 18, 9:00-10:00. The abstract of this is

\centerline {\eighttt http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/Management2/abstracts.html\#lynch}

\sk

\noindent 3.~Title: {\eightsl Intellectual Property in the Information
Age: Will Laws and Technology Destroy Public Libraries?}. Tuesday,
April 18, 1:15-2:00. The abstract is at

\centerline{\eighttt http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/Management2/abstracts.html\#simons}

\sk

All of these talks are in the CORE building auditorium. This building
is next to Hill Center on the Busch campus, and the auditorium is on
the first floor.

}

\medskip

\noindent {\bf What's ``intellectual property''?}

\smallskip 

\noindent The term ``intellectual property'' can refer to ideas
protected by copyright, patent, trademark, or trade secret. {\sl
Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure: The
Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights}
(November, 1995) available through the web page {\tt
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/doc/ipnii/} discusses all of
these protections. I'll principally discuss the first named,
copyright, although digital information (bitstreams) could easily be
imagined infringing on ideas protected by the other classical
restrictions.

\medskip

\noindent {\bf Copyright} 

\smallskip

\noindent Here's an official description from {\tt
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html} (a web page of the
U.~S. Library of Congress). Note that copyright may be different in
different countries. The ellipses ($\ldots$) indicate my deletions of
technical phrases.
 
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Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United
States $\scriptstyle\ldots$ to the authors of original
works $\scriptstyle\ldots$ including literary, dramatic, musical,
artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection
is available to both published and unpublished works. $\scriptstyle\ldots$
the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of
copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to
do the following:
\sk
\item{$\scriptstyle\bullet$}{\vb To reproduce} the work in copies or phonorecords;
\sk
\item{$\scriptstyle\bullet$}To prepare {\vb derivative works} based upon the work;
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\item{$\scriptstyle\bullet$}{\vb To distribute copies or phonorecords} of the work
to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental,
lease, or lending;
\sk
\item{$\scriptstyle\bullet$}{\vb To perform the work publicly}, in the case of literary,
musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion
pictures and other audiovisual works;
\sk
\item{$\scriptstyle\bullet$}{To display the copyrighted work publicly}, in the case of
literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and
pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual
images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work; and
\sk
\item{$\scriptstyle\bullet$}In the case of {\vb sound recordings, to perform the
work publicly} by means of a {\vb digital audio transmission}.
\sk
In addition, certain authors of works of visual art have the rights of
attribution and integrity $\scriptstyle\ldots$ 
\sk
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the
copyright law to the owner of copyright. These rights, however, are
not unlimited in scope. Sections $\scriptstyle\ldots$ of the 1976 Copyright
Act establish limitations on these rights. In some cases, these
limitations are specified exemptions from copyright liability. One
major limitation is the doctrine of ``fair use,'' which is given a
statutory basis in $\scriptstyle\ldots$ the 1976 Copyright Act. In other
instances, the limitation takes the form of a ``compulsory license''
under which certain limited uses of copyrighted works are permitted
upon payment of specified royalties and compliance with statutory
conditions.  

}

\medskip

\noindent {\bf The Digital Dilemma}

\smallskip

\noindent A very recent (publication date listed as 2000!) book-length
report on digital intellectual property was published by the (U.S.)
National Academy of Sciences. It is {\sl The Digital Dilemma:
Intellectual Property in the Information Age} and is available (in its
entirety, of course!) at {\tt
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309064996/html/}.
This is the beginning of the Executive Summary:

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\sk

\centerline{\vb THE ORIGINS OF THE DIGITAL DILEMMA}

\sk

Borrowing a book from a local public library would seem to be one of
the most routine, familiar, and uncomplicated acts in modern civic
life. A world of information is available with little effort and
almost no out-of-pocket cost. Such access to information has played a
central role in American education and civic life from the time of
Thomas Jefferson, who believed in the crucial role that knowledge and
an educated populace play in making democracy work. Yet the very
possibility of borrowing a book, whether from a library or a friend,
depends on a number of subtle, surprisingly complex, and at times
conflicting elements of law, public policy, economics, and
technology, elements that are in relative balance today but may well
be thrown completely out of balance by the accelerating transformation
of information into digital form. 

The problem is illustrated simply enough: A printed book can be
accessed by one or perhaps two people at once, people who must, of
course, be in the same place as the book. But make that same text
available in electronic form, and there is almost no technological
limit to the number of people who can access it simultaneously, from
literally anywhere on the planet where there is a telephone (and hence
an Internet connection). 

At first glance, this is wonderful news for the consumer and for
society: The electronic holdings of libraries (and friends) around the
world can become available from a home computer, 24 hours a day,
year-round; they are never ``checked out''. These same advances in
technology create new opportunities and markets for publishers. 

But there is also a more troublesome side. For publishers and authors,
the question is, How many copies of the work will be sold (or
licensed) if networks make possible planet-wide addess? Their
nightmare is that the number is {\vi one}. How many books (or movies,
photographs, or musical pieces) will be created and published online
if the entire market can be extinguished by the sale of the first
electronic copy?

The nightmare of consumers is that the attempt to preserve the
marketplaces leads to technical and legal protections that sharply
reduce access to society's intellectual and cultural heritage, the
resource that Jefferson saw as crucial to democracy. $\ldots$

}

\medskip

\noindent {\bf Further resources}

\smallskip

\noindent The page {\tt
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/copyrightissues.html}
contains more links to copyright information, including a link to the
Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). The page {\tt
http://www.arl.org/info/frn/copy/primer.html} discusses the DMCA. It
is very new legislation. The act extends certain copyrights (Mickey
Mouse's masters are {\it very}\/ happy about this!) and also changes
some U.S.~laws and practices to make them agree more with worldwide
standards. U.S.~laws on intellectual property can be seen through the
web page {\tt http://fedlaw.gsa.gov/fedfra23.htm}.  A general
reference on intellectual property is {\tt
http://www.ip-surveys.com/links/links.html} which includes links to
``world'' practices, not just the U.S. Another general reference is
the web page {\tt http://www.patents.ibm.com/ip\_pages/}.

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