Copyright on the Internet

The following sample essay on Copyright on the Internet discusses about the copyright infringement on the Internet .

When you use the Internet to copy and share songs, movies and other content you might be violating copyright laws. Movie companies are losing out millions per year to online copyright pirates (Harrington, 1999). The producers and artists lose money in the process and it even affects the consumers for the costs of making movies and music are increased to cover the losses from copyright pirates.

The Internet negatively contributes to copyright infringements.

Copyright protects original literary, musical and artistic works and gives exclusive rights to the author(s) to publish, produce, sell and distribute it (Field, 2004). Therefore, copyright infringements occur when an individual engages in any of the exclusive rights of the author without the author’s consent (Harrington, 1999). The Internet has contributed to the rampant copyright infringement. There are numerous sites that offer free downloads of songs and movies, peer to peer sharing softwares abound that make copying and sharing copyrighted materials more accessible (Michel, 2004).

The Internet also allows users to anonymously copy and share these materials and since the Internet is very difficult to police, running after violators seem almost impossible.  The open-source community proposes that everything on the Internet should be free, but Walker (2006) says that this is not the case.

The Internet has allowed researchers, authors and even artists reach a wider audience and as a consequence it had also made rampant copying and sharing of copyrighted materials. Just like any technological advancements, the Internet has a positive and negative side.

Get quality help now

writer-Charlotte

Verified

Proficient in: Internet

4.7 (348)

“ Amazing as always, gave her a week to finish a big assignment and came through way ahead of time. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

But since piracy and copyright infringements pose serious economic ramifications, the government, the artists and the ISP providers should work together to lessen and control the present situation.

References

1. Field, T. Jr. (2004). Copyright on the Internet, Pierce Law, Retrieved June 8, 2006 from http://www.piercelaw.edu/tfield/copynet.htm
2. Harrington, M. (1999). On-line copyright infringement liability for Internet Service Providers: Context, cases and recently enacted legislation, B.C. Intell. Prop. & Tech. F. 060499 , Retrieved June 8, 2006 from http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/iptf/articles/content/1999060401.html
3. Michel, N. (2004). Internet File Sharing: The evidence so far and what it means for the future. The Heritage Foundation , Retrieved June 8, 2006 from http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternetandTechnology/bg1790.cfm
4. Walker, J. M. (2006). There is No Open Source Community , ONLamp.com, Retrieved June 8, 2006 from http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2006/01/12/no_oss_community.html