How the Internet and free software render copyrights useless, dooming them much as capitalism doomed slavery.

News, information, discussions and guides related to intellectual property.

Argument against keeping books under copyright when they should have gone to the Public Domain under the provisions of prior copyright law. From Project Gutenberg.

The author shows how impractical copyrights are, and how many ethical questions they raise.

What the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Copyright Term Extension Act mean for the library community, by Arnold P. Lutzker.

How intellectual property laws stifle popular culture, and violate freedom of speech. About old works being kept in obscurity, and new ones being silenced. Article by Jesse Walker, Reason magazine.

A lobbying group formed by typeface designers, targeting copyright protection for the design of fonts in the United States, bringing copyright law in line with other western countries.

Rabbi Israel Schneider gives his interpretation of Mosaic law and copyright issues.

Timeline of the evolution of the "right to copy" from 1992 to February 12, 2001.

Transcript of a talk by Richard Stallman, on how copyright law no longer protects the public interest, and how it might be curtailed in different ways for different kinds of works.

Book by Jessica Litman about the collision between expectations of freedom of expression and copyright law.

Provides visual artists with support for copyright clearance and monitors the use and potential abuse of artists' rights.

Paper by Damian Yerrick about "under the table" laws such as the Bono Act and the DMCA sponsored by corporate lobbyists that dilute the public's right to publish.

The old copyright rules apply, and figuring out just how is giving heartburn to lawyers the world over.

Explains how the perpetual copyright policy manifested in the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 has made it impossible to preserve art.

Investigative documentary by Australia's Radio National about a boycott of scientific journals that will not make their archives available to the public without restrictions or Licenses to Read. Audio in RealMedia format and transcript.

Poll to vote on the proposition that everything that can be copied should be free, with no copyright and no intellectual property. Also includes links to articles and opinions.

"British consumers will be on the wrong side of the law for the first time if they buy overseas DVDs or computer games 'unauthorised' for the UK and play them on their PCs at home." By Drew Cullen. [Register]

Article on the Canadian government holding public hearings on the Copyright Act reform.

"Two treaties taking effect this spring would expand the reach of controversial American legislation designed to regulate the Internet." By Brad King. [Wired]

Organization for protecting fair-use rights in the digital world. Advocates a Consumer Technology Bill of Rights including the rights to time-shift and space-shift media and to make backup copies.

"It is important to rediscover the roots of intellectual property to understand why SSSCA is too much, and the DMCA already went too far." Editorial and reader comments. [kuro5hin]

Academic paper. General introduction to the subject of copyright ethics.

Recent expansion of copyright law threatens research and education, destroys rights, and impoverishes public discourse. [Chronicle of Higher Education]

Speech by Gary Shapiro, President of the Consumer Electronics Association, to the Optical Storage Symposium.

Profile of Paula Samuelson, law professor who has spent 15 years fighting what she sees as overzealous and innovation-stifling expansion of copyright laws in the high-tech arena. [Wall Street Journal]

Article on two U.S. Representatives proposing the Public Domain Enhancement Act, addressing the need to reform copyright laws to permit abandoned works to enter the public domain.

A proposition to instate tiny tax designed to move unused copyrighted work into the public domain. Frequently asked questions, petition, ways to help, and news.

With the advent of new media, e-publishing, self-publishing, and differential patent enforcement and pricing - intellectual property rights may be in trouble.

Provides links and resources on copyright, trademark, Internet and entertainment law.

Montreal group of writers filing a lawsuit against publishers who used the freelancers' work on electronic databases and the web without compensation.

Criticisms of copyright laws from a Christian perspective.

Campaign sponsored by 321 Studios, manufacturer of DVD-copying software, to protect US consumers' fair use rights to make back-up copies of their DVDs.

Under the guise of protecting copyrights, several new legal measures threaten readers