Digital Copyright

Authored by a law professor at Wayne State University (Detroit), this brief study questions whether strong changes in American copyright laws in the past five years do much good for anyone other than the copyright holders. Aimed at a general though informed audience, Litman discusses the protection of intellectual property on the Internet, the pros and cons of the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, the growing (and successful) role of copyright lobbyists with Congress, the growth in pay‐per‐view and pay‐per‐use schemes, a case study of the killing of the Napster service and how all this is tilting ever more clearly in favor of the large copyright owners as opposed to a broader public interest. Some argue – and the author agrees in part – that the new copyright regime emerging in the USA is limiting the exchange of information and is becoming far too invasive of public rights. This is a troubling book by an authority that comes at a vital time in the American debate about how to balance the rights of information creators and users.