Title
Communications issues in copyright reform
Date of this Version
November 1995
Document Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The main thesis of this article is that one of the Copyright Act’s principal aims is to promote the distribution of knowledge and information, and that any reform of copyright law must maintain this goal and must in a negative sense, not restrict ‘freedom of communication’ more than is necessary to achieve that aim. Now more than ever, at a time of unprecendented developments in the market for information, copyright law presents both potential threats and potential benefits which must be carefully weighed up from the point of view of general welfare, and benefits for the individual author, user, and the user as author in her turn.
First, I will examine the interrelationship between copyright law and freedom of communication, both within the closed doctrinal system of copyright law and from the external viewpoint of a right or freedom of communication. Then I will consider digitisation and the future of copyright law, and will end with an attempt to draw some conclusions.
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Publication Details
Interim status: Citation only
Van Caenegem, William (1995).Communications issues in copyright reform. Copyright Reporter , Vol. 13, Iss. 3, pp. 72-88.