Technology has affected a wide range of issues in our personal and professional lives. And in doing so it has opened the door for new legal questions, especially with regard to intellectual property and, more specifically, copyright.
New legal questions have arisen with respect to the authorship of web pages, databases, computer programs, and, in general, multimedia work. Is this technology internationally protected? Can internet piracy be considered piracy? To whom does the copyright belong when more than one author exists? When is it necessary to resort to technical protection devices?
By examining international laws, such as the WIPO treaties and EU law, this book offers a clear answer to these questions while focusing on how copyright does or does not protect new technology.
It also examines alternative ways of protecting technologies that present the real possibility of appealing to patent and trademark law as well as an overview of the multimedia concept and the origins of copyright. This book's simple structure helps the reader to understand how to utilize current laws to protect one's work and offers an interesting and informative analysis of the subject.
Contents, Acknowledgment, Prologue Chapter I – Defining the Multimedia Work
1. The Multimedia Work 1.1. Formulation of its Meaning 1.2.
Formulation of a Typology of its Own Chapter II – Description of Copyright
and its Basic Features Throughout its History 1. Antecedents 1.1.
The Social Significance of Authors in Greece and Rome (Fifth Century BC)
1.2. Invention of the Printing Press (1450) and the Birth of Privileges
2. The Statute of Queen Anne (1709): First Positive Materialization of a
Right in Favor of Authors 2.1. Contents: Recognition of a Time Limited
Exclusive Right 2.2. Application: Donaldson vs. Beckett 3.
Creation and Consolidation in the National Laws (18th–19th Centuries)
3.1. England and the Search of a Balance between Author’s Right and
Copyright 3.2. The English Influence in American Copyright 3.3.
The French Formulation of the Droit d’auteur as a Property Right 3.4.
Germany and Copyright as a Moral Right Chapter III – International
Treaties for the Protection of Copyright and their Application to Multimedia
Works 1. Introduction: The Berne Convention of 1886, and its Promotion as
a Result of Technological Development. From the Protection of Printed Works to
the Protection of Distribution by Wire 1.1. Developing a Right for
Printed Works 1.2. Protection of Cinematographic, Sound and Audiovisual
Works 1.3. A Point of Contact with the New Technologies: Protection of
Satellite and Cable Broadcasting 2. The GATT Agreement of 1994, and the
Berne Protocol of 1996: Protection of Multimedia Works through New Copyright
Categories 2.1. First Multimedia Copyrights Covered by International
Treaties: Software and Databases in the GATT Agreement of 1994 2.2. New
Copyright Protection for Multimedia: The WIPO Treaties or the Protocol to the
Berne Convention of 1996 3. Toward a Global Solution for Multimedia
Copyrights 3.1. Basic Principles of the Berne System Applied to the
Digital Communication Field 3.2. Protection of Copyright Owners and
Related or Neighboring Rights 3.3. Protection of the Subject Matter of
Copyright 3.4. Protection of the Content of Copyright 3.5. Other
Applicable Legal Principles 3.6. The Technological Solution as an
Alternative to Law for the Protection of Multimedia Works Chapter IV – The
Development of Community Copyright Principles through the Regulation of
Multimedia Works in the Information Society 1. Antecedents 1.1. An
Approach to the Origins of the Community Regulation on Copyrights 1.2.
The Protection of Computer Programs as Literary Works: First Step for the
Protection of Multimedia (1991) 2. Regulation of Multimedia Works and
Digital Technology 2.1. Copyright in the Legal Framework of the
Information Society 2.2. The Protection of Databases regarding Content
Selection and Arrangement: Creation of a Sui Generis Right in Favor of Maker
(1996) 2.3. The Legal-technical Protection of Copyright in the
Information Society (2001) Bibliography, Reference Books, Articles, Legal Texts