Copyrights

Reevaluating Copyright: The Public Must Prevail - Open source pioneer Richard Stallman discusses some problems with copyright restrictions. <small>(May, 1996)</small>
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/reevaluating-copyright.html

The Eric Eldred Act - 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.
http://www.eldred.cc/

The Campaign to Have Copyright Interests Trump Technology and Consumer Rights - Speech by Gary Shapiro, President of the Consumer Electronics Association, to the Optical Storage Symposium. <small>(September 17, 2002)</small>
http://www.techlawjournal.com/intelpro/20020917.asp

Now Is The Time! - 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.
http://www.promo.net/pg/cplea97/

I Am Gonna Copy - 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.
http://www.iamgonnacopy.com/

Intellectual Property and Copyright Ethics - Academic paper. General introduction to the subject of copyright ethics.
http://www.gonzaga.edu/faculty/alfino/dossier/Papers/COPYRIGH.htm

Anarchism Triumphant: Free Software and the Death of Copyright - How the Internet and free software render copyrights useless, dooming them much as capitalism doomed slavery.
http://old.law.columbia.edu/my_pubs/anarchism.html

Slashdot - Canada to Hold Public Hearings on Digital Copyright - Article on the Canadian government holding public hearings on the Copyright Act reform. <small>(February 19, 2002)</small>
http://slashdot.org/yro/02/02/19/1916245.shtml

Christians and the Copyright Laws - Criticisms of copyright laws from a Christian perspective.
http://www.ifla.org/documents/infopol/copyright/decj1.htm

TypeRight - 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.
http://typeright.org

Washington Post: Copyright, copywrong - The old copyright rules apply, and figuring out just how is giving heartburn to lawyers the world over. <small>(September 10, 1997)</small>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/tech/analysis/copyright/intprop.htm

Primer on the Digital Millennium - What the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Copyright Term Extension Act mean for the library community, by Arnold P. Lutzker.
http://www.arl.org/info/frn/copy/primer.html

Copy Catfight - 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. <small>(March 1, 2000)</small>
http://www.reason.com/0003/fe.jw.copy.html

Artists Rights Society - Provides visual artists with support for copyright clearance and monitors the use and potential abuse of artists' rights.
http://www.arsny.com/

Copyright as Cudgel - Recent expansion of copyright law threatens research and education, destroys rights, and impoverishes public discourse. [Chronicle of Higher Education] <small>(August 2, 2002)</small>
http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i47/47b00701.htm

A Great Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn’t Its Copyright? - Opinion article arguing that copyrights, like physical property rights, should last forever. By Mark Helperin. <small>(May 20, 2007)</small>
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/opinion/20helprin.html?ex=1337313600&en=3571064d77055f41&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Michael Geist: 30 Days of DRM - Thirty daily postings highlights some of the exceptions and limitations that the government should include if a Canadian DMCA is introduced. Includes a wiki for user comments and contributions.
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/daysofdrm/

Digital Copyright - Book by Jessica Litman about the collision between expectations of freedom of expression and copyright law.
http://www.msen.com/~litman/digital-copyright/

Legal Theorist, The - 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] <small>(May 13, 2002)</small>
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB1020884132662876320.html

Politics of Copy Protection Technology, The - 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.
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=952746

Copyright and Globalization in the Age of Computer Networks - 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.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/copyright-and-globalization.html

DigitalConsumer.org - 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.
http://www.digitalconsumer.org/

Against Perpetual Copyright - Rebuttal to Mark Helperin's "A Great Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn’t Its Copyright?", explicating deficiencies in his arguments for infinite copyright terms.
http://wiki.lessig.org/index.php/Against_perpetual_copyright

Jewish Law and Copyright - Rabbi Israel Schneider gives his interpretation of Mosaic law and copyright issues.
http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/copyright1.html

Buy DVDs and Games Abroad - and Break the Law - "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] <small>(January 24, 2002)</small>
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/01/24/buy_dvds_and_games_abroad/

MSNBC: From Betamax to Napster - Timeline of the evolution of the "right to copy" from 1992 to February 12, 2001.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/DigitalMusic/

Can the World Be Copyrighted? - "Two treaties taking effect this spring would expand the reach of controversial American legislation designed to regulate the Internet." By Brad King. [Wired] <small>(February 26, 2002)</small>
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50658,00.html

CopyrightGuru - Provides links and resources on copyright, trademark, Internet and entertainment law.
http://www.copyrightguru.com

The Eric Eldred Act - 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. <small>(June 2, 2003)</small>
http://www.eldred.cc/eablog/000092.html

Knowledge Indignation - 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. <small>(August 12, 2001)</small>
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s345514.htm

Guiding the Path of Intellectual Property - "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] <small>(March 9, 2002)</small>
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/3/8/1465/50261

Perpetual Copyright - Explains how the perpetual copyright policy manifested in the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 has made it impossible to preserve art.
http://everything2.com/?node=sonny+bono+copyright+extension+act

LA Times: Copyright This - Dallas Weaver argues that intellectual property's social value may eventually trump copyright law. <small>(February 20, 2008)</small>
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-weaver20feb20,0,1675278.story

The Revolt of the Poor - The Demise of Intellectual Property? - With the advent of new media, e-publishing, self-publishing, and differential patent enforcement and pricing - intellectual property rights may be in trouble.
http://samvak.tripod.com/nm047.html