Copyright's Relevance in the Internet Age: Some Lessons from Aereo, Alice, and Authors Guild

摘要

Lynn White, the late professor of medieval history,1 claimed that the pace of technological change might seem faster to a modern observer but that it has always appeared this way, whether you are a caveman gawking at sparks made by a stone of flint2 or a Mainz burgher marveling at the latest book printed by a local metal smith named Guttenberg. But with due respect to the esteemed historian, one wonders how well his theory is faring in the digital age. When interpreting intellectual property laws, even the finest minds seem to struggle to keep up in a world of exponential innovation. Some recent cases before the US Supreme Court call into question what copyright will mean in the near future. Accordingly, any practitioner with a client whose business involves creative content—and that's an increasingly broad category—should assume little.