THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607140087
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 31 lines
Trotter Hardy, a College of William and Mary law professor, has become a special consultant to the U.S. Copyright Office, charged with determining how to enforce copyrights in the age of computers.
``Some people say the Internet is leading directly to the death of copyright,'' Hardy said. ``If we allow that to happen, we jeopardize much of the incentive that has stimulated artistic creativity over the years.''
Hardy, a computer specialist turned lawyer, was appointed this month to spend the summer and fall in Washington, studying how - and if - current copyright laws apply to the Internet.
Laws governing copyright materials - the exclusive right to the publication, production or sale of written work, art, music and other material - now apply to the Internet only if a court interprets them as such.
But because copyright laws were not written with cyberspace in mind, sorting out legal issues can be difficult.
On the Internet, copyrighted material can be transmitted from computer to computer to computer, out of the control of the copyright holder.
Hardy said the challenge will be balancing copyright concerns with keeping information flowing freely on the constantly changing Internet.
``If we need new laws, the trick will be to write them broadly enough to cover as many of the presently unforeseen circumstances as possible,'' he said. by CNB