Copyrights

Copyrights

Technology is an important aspect of human life that no one is capable of halting or even slowing down. As human life develops and becomes fuller with the pleasures of life, it is inevitable technology will continue to grow exponentially. Unfortunately, many people would like to believe that while technology is advancing, certain industries and businesses are suffering. The invention of the MP3, and the peer-to-peer file sharing technology is just a new ‘enemy’ in the eyes of big business and a scapegoat for copyright infringement, just as the cassette tape, the radio, and VHS have been in the past. In the 2001 Information & Communications Technology Law Journal, Vol 10, No. 3 author Maria Anestopoulou attempts to connect the relationships between the newfound popularity of the MP3 (file sharing) and the legal implications of copyright infringement that accompany them. Through explanations of the technology and the analysis of the court cases against companies like Napster, Anestopoulou’s article, Challenging Intellectual Property Law in the Internet: An overview of the legal implications of the MP3 technology, tries to give the reader an understanding of the benefits the internet presents to the world, while causing the facilitation of copyright crimes.

As stated in the abstract, Anestopoulou’s article “Attempts to provide an understanding of the contrast between the fundamental notion surrounding the Internet that global society should benefit from access to free flow of information whilst unauthorized copying of material normally protected by copyright can be facilitated.” (1) The essence of the idea presented in the abstract can first be seen in the article’s explicit title of Challenging Intellectual Property Law in the Internet: An overview of the legal implications of the MP3 technology, this title in itself is crisp and clear, giving the reader a clear view of what they can find in the article and a very basic idea of what the author’s general abstract and hypothesis could possibly be. Beginning with the introduction, the ideas of the abstract are adhered to as Anestopoulou quickly covers the topic of the premier idea of the internet which is that “Global society should benefit from access from the vast potentialities that it offers,” (1) she then goes on to cover the implications of copyright infringement that come with the benefits the internet offers explaining that “This power provides a contrast in that it can also facilitate the unauthorised copying of material normally protected by Intellectual Property Law.” (1) The author gives a clear overview of the article in the introduction, while tying the principles of the abstract in as well, summarizing the problem that the MP3 technology has caused, while briefly mentioning the lawsuits brought forth against Napster and mp3.com, the clarity of the overview Anestopoulou presents can be seen through this quote:

The controversy surrounding unauthorised copying of material is centred

on the usage of MP3 compression software technology, the most popular format

for distributing audio music .les over the Internet.

The legal issues in relation to the usage of the MP3 technology were .rst

recognised in late 1999, ultimately resulting in the music industry bringing two

separate lawsuits,1 alleging that two start-up Internet companies, MP3.com2 and

Napster,3 were facilitating copyright infringement by allowing the extensive

distribution of copyrighted music without authorisation over the Internet.

This paper will consider issues of copyright infringement and unauthorised

reproduction and distribution of copyrighted music as highlighted in the cases against MP3.com and Napster.4 Additionally, to the extent that the outcome of

the aforementioned cases are likely to influence the future of copyright protection

in the online environment, the paper will also address the legal implications

of the MP3 technology in relation to the applicability, adequacy and effectiveness

of the traditional norms of Intellectual Property Law.

Moreover, the interpretation of Law in those cases in accordance with