Dear Ulf, It's true that my explanation was written from an Anglo-American view. One of the problems with this kind of discussion is that those of us with some direct knowledge generally have our knowledge linked to specific frames of reference. If anyone has factual information on issues as they are -- in contrast with issues that propose a new kind of law -- I'd welcome hearing about it. Copyright law is remarkably similar around the world. This arises from the fact of the Berne Convention, one of the world's oldest bodies of treaty law. The 121 nations that now subscribe to the convention all incorporate this treaty law into their own law. This is not Anglo-American case law, but black-letter law or code law. Courts interpret the law, but the law is written, and given the fact that much of what we circulate in cyberspace involves text and images that are subject to copyright under the Berne convention, these laws apply to any material circulated from servers or addresses within the signatory nations. As of 1997, the 121 signatories were: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe. If you want to know more about the Berne convention, you might visit the Web site: http://www.wipo.org/eng/general/copyrght/bern.htm One central fact -- taken from the Web site -- will clarify my view that "the law is the law." --snip-- The Convention rests on three basic principles and contains a series of provisions determining the minimum protection to be granted, as well as special provisions available to developing countries which want to make use of them. (1) The three basic principles are the following: (a) Works originating in one of the contracting States (that is, works the author of which is a national of such a State or works which were first published in such a State) must be given the same protection in each of the other contracting States as the latter grants to the works of its own nationals (principle of "national treatment") [3]. (b) Such protection must not be conditional upon compliance with any formality (principle of "automatic" protection)[3]. (c) Such protection is independent of the existence of protection in the country of origin of the work (principle of the "independence" of protection). If, however, a contracting State provides for a longer term than the minimum prescribed by the Convention and the work ceases to be protected in the country of origin, protection may be denied once protection in the country of origin ceases[3]. --snip-- In other words, all these nations agree to honor the copyright laws of the nation in which a copyrighted work originates or in which a copyrighted work is also copyrighted. The Cornell University Legal Information Institute offers the full text of the Berne Convention: http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/overview.html It is important to reiterate that this is not the law in the Anglo-American world. This is the law in 121 nations, stated in the form of codes that cover most of the work made available in cyberspace and covering issues such as broadcast or media formats that apply to digital media. One of the issues that makes cyberspace so important is that it is connected to the physical world. Some issues change in cyberspace. Others do not. While many people view cyberspace as a kind of sci-fi world inhabited by sophonts, avatars and cyborgs, this is not the part of cyberspace where most of us live. Most of us live in a segment of cyberspace that is connected to the worlds of work and play, sometimes to shopping, definitely to the world that generates news and information. In that sense, it's rather like a huge library or a vast computer. Despite the fact that the stacks run miles high over the earth, the building has a footprint, and jurisdiction on many issues are established where that foot sets down. Where it comes to copyright law, you can read for yourself just where the law applies. It is my view that the challenges we need involve issues such as the Internet Public Library or the current protest against control of scientific literature by a handful of publishers who use the opportunities afforded by the old conventions of scholarly publishing to secure vast new territories in cyberspace. This can all be done by challenges within the law. In stating that the law is the law, I do not assert that I agree entirely with what the law is. I assert that a code of law exists, that it is essentially worldwide, that it is enforceable and that it is to some degree greater or lesser enforced in 121 nations. Best regards, Ken -- ******************************************** Ken Friedman, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design Department of Knowledge Management Norwegian School of Management Visiting Professor Advanced Research Institute School of Art and Design Staffordshire University Norway +47 22.98.50.00 Telephone +47 22.98.51.11 Telefax Home office Byvaegen 13 S-24012 Torna Haellestad Sweden +46 (46) 53.245 Telephone +46 (46) 53.345 Telefax email: ken.friedman@bi.no ********************************************