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The problems that the great developments in digital information and the Internet are creating for copyright may be partly solved through new legislation as well as through the implementation of technological systems (generically known as ECMS) that help protect it. These two approaches – legal and technological – interact, as the new copyright laws protect these electronic measures through the prohibition of their circumvention. The contents of the three main legal norms that have regulated this area to date, the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the European Directive and the new Australian Copyright Act, are analysed in an attempt to determine what impact they might have on the traditional limitations and exceptions to copyright (fair use/dealing, private copying, library privileges) that benefit libraries, their users and the general public.

Examines legal issues in relation to the digitization of media. Looks at the nature of digitization of content and its implications for copyright and libraries. Investigates exceptions to copyright protection, aspects of the extension of copyright protection and protection of rights management of information and technology. Concludes with a possible agenda to the digital challenge.

To deal with the new circumstances arising in the digital environment, with its particular conditions for the access, distribution and use of intellectual works, three distinct approaches exist: legal (copyright laws are modified to adapt them to the new context), technological (systems designed to control access and use of works), and contractual (through licenses to regulate the conditions of use of the works). The joint use of technological measures and licenses, together with the laws that protect both, are seriously endangering the effectiveness of the limitations to copyright set forth by law to benefit libraries, their users and citizens in general. This represents a strong privatisation of access to information. Using as a point of reference the laws of countries that are on the front lines of this terrain – the USA, the European Union and Australia – some problems created by the new forms of protection of intellectual works are examined.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the modes of digital content creation for digital libraries and discuss the associated copyright issues with the types of digital content.

Prevalent copyright laws in India in the context of digital content have been studied and issues related to specific types of digital content have been discussed.

In addition to two known types of digital content, namely born digital and turned digital, a third type, gained digital has been delineated. It is found that extant copyright laws, particularly in India, allow scope for forming opinions with regard to digital content thereby giving room for insecurity for digital content creators.

Copyright laws in the context of World Intellectual Property Organization and India only have been discussed.

The paper will be useful to digital content creators and digital library managers/administrators to understand copyright issues relevant to the digital library.

The classification of digital libraries based on content as has been delineated in this paper is an original work and has reported for the first time. The linking of digital content with the copyright issues makes it useful.

Following an overview of the historical context of copyright legislation, this paper discusses copyright within the scholarly communication process and the role of libraries in providing access to copyright materials in the digital age. The argument is made that the balance of “rights” and “exceptions” that has been maintained for 300 years needs to be reconsidered for scholarly communications, such as theses and dissertations, as well as for articles in electronic journals. This type of information is fact‐based, often resulting from public funds, and is part of the intellectual heritage of academic institutions, and so is very different to creative works within the entertainment industries.

Learning object developers need to understand that presently there are powerful organizations of “intellectual property” owners, and vendors of music, videos, books and software that are making a concerted attack on copyright, attempting to convert it from a law to promote knowledge and the useful arts into a mechanism to protect and serve their special interests. This paper represents an attempt to overturn the misconception that copyright is simply about protecting the rights of authors and re‐introduce an understanding of the original foundational role of copyright in “promoting science and the useful arts” and inform U.S. and international readers of the concerted assault on our “fair use” copy rights as educators in the digital environment. The paper argues for the need to put an end to the “quasicopyright” laws that have severely curtailed the traditional rights of educational institutions and passed on responsibilities that previously were the purview of the copyright owners. It calls for a restoration of the balance returning copyright to its original educational focus.

For India, having being endowed with a rich heritage of art and culture, copyright is perceived to offer potential rewards. The entertainment industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the Indian economy. At present, India is not a signatory to the WIPO Internet Treaties, but the government has proposed amendments to the extant legislation to incorporate Digital Rights Management (DRM) as enshrined in them. Conventionally the western entertainment industry has viewed DRM as an important tool to combat piracy pervasive on the internet. DRM involves the application of a set of technical and legal mechanisms that allow copyright owners to control the access to their works, determine the types of permissible uses and terms of such uses and the ultimate distribution of their works in the digital world. With the growing popularity of Indian cinema abroad, the entertainment industry is attracting increasing foreign investment, is gradually being corporatised and thus it is felt that such investments need to be protected. DRM is considered to be one of the solutions as it prevents loss due to unlimited unauthorized reproduction of works, introduces more effective market segmentation and promotes the incentive to create, facilitating the maximum exploitation of works in the digital world. However, for India, a developing economy, such a path is to be treaded with caution. DRM is an extra‐statutory measure, with perceived potential impact on consumer privacy, innovation and limiting legitimate exceptions. A unique feature of the industry is that it is an extension of its dynamic indigenous folk and classical cultural tradition where the emphasis has been on adaptation and improvisation, drawing upon works in the public domain. Some experts observe that DRM poses a threat to such a tradition by artificially restricting the public domain.This paper explores the likely impact of the proposed introduction of the DRM provisions in the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 with its focus on Bollywood and the related music sector. Given the tension surrounding DRM, this paper examines the aforementioned issues, taking into consideration the promotion of the underlying objectives of copyright law. Noting that the case for strong copyright protection as a key for innovation is highly debatable, this paper argues that India should keep in mind the flexibilities under law as provided by various international treaties and in technology before adopting the DRM approach.

Copyright law has been oft-criticized for its unintended consequences. This paper retells three “tales of the unintended” concerning the 1976 Copyright Act, the present U.S. copyright statute. The first tale focuses on fair use, the second on statutory damages, and the third on formalities. From these three tales, the paper draws five different morals that provide insights into the ongoing process of copyright reform. These insights will enable policymakers and commentators to rethink the ongoing and future development of copyright law.

The RIAA v. Verizon case offers an opportunity to analyze the scope of an Internet service provider’s responsibility to help deter copyright infringement. In this case, the RIAA served Verizon with a subpoena requesting the identity of two users who were making available copyrighted recordings for downloading on peer‐to‐peer networks. The main axis of discussion is whether or not Verizon has a moral obligation to reveal the names of these individuals. Should Verizon cooperate with the RIAA or should it seek to shield the identity of these users in order to protect their anonymity and privacy? A secondary theme concerns Verizon’s prospective responsibility to curtail infringement. We will argue that Verizon and other ISPs have a limited obligation to assist copyright holders by disclosing the identity of infringers, but we contend that any prospective responsibility is constrained by law and technological capability.