Interpretation of copyright law—looking especially at the situation created by the new technology

Abstract

The underlying concern of copyright is with communication; the purpose of the copyright system as it exists today is to stimulate those who have something to communicate—ideas, information, visions—to express them in a form in which they can be communicated to other human beings. The copyright system seeks to encourage authors to write, musicians to compose, artists to paint, and to provide incentives for the dissemination of their output by giving them rights of control over the use to which these forms of expression—literature, music, visual art—may be put by the public. The copyright law today is entirely statutory, subject, of course, to judicial interpretation as and when disputes come before the courts. The present statute is the Copyright Act 1956; its principal effect may be summarised in the following way:

Citation

de Freitas, D. (1983), "Interpretation of copyright law—looking especially at the situation created by the new technology", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 35 No. 11, pp. 431-439. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb050907