Dec 24 2008
The 1976 Revision of the Copyright Act
The U.S. Copyright Act was modified in 1976 for two important reasons. First, it was necessary to consider the effects of new technological developments on what could now be copyrighted, and what constituted an infringement given all the new possibilities. Electronic file sharing, the Internet, and photocopying were only some of the ways copyright was affected by technology. These things did not exist earlier and now had to be addressed.
The second main reason for the revision was to bring U.S. copyright laws into adherence with the international copyright laws being set at the Berne convention. For example, works of an individual author were now protected for the author’s life plus 50 years, protection was extended to unpublished works, and under certain circumstances, library photocopying was permitted. New rules for “fair use” were also defined.
For in-depth information about U.S. Copyright Law you can go directly to the U.S. Copyright Office at http://www.copyright.gov/.
with booming technology, there will be techniques to embed copyright into the file, which certificate can’t be changed or edited by user. I hope the government will update the technology to do so. Take time and budget, though. As the economy right now, it is not important to deploy the plan. But in the future, I’m sure there will be file copyright that can’t be copied to other computer as well. I think iTune has been taking the first step.