Copyright's Highway: From Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox

A renowned expert on copyright law offers a readable and informative look at copyright law and its history, answering common questions about these laws and showing how copyright issues shape the international marketplace and our culture.

Goldstein, a Stanford law professor and copyright expert, here makes what can be a dry subject positively sparkle. Writing with humor, color and lucidity, he offers laypeople and professionals alike a swift history of copyright, its philosophies in different nations (a matter of great importance in the current GATT talks with Europe) and zeroes in keenly on the recent controversies surrounding it. There is an account of the 30-year-old, epochal Williams & Wilkins case against government medical libraries for excessive copying of journals that, improbably, has the dash of a courtroom thriller; and a brilliant examination of Congress's reluctance to become involved in the vexed question of private, at-home copying on tape recorders and VCRs. Throughout, Goldstein is careful to make clear the radically different philosophies of intellectual property that often sunder such otherwise sound allies as publishers and librarians: the copyright optimists, seeking to expand its sway, and the pessimists, seeking to limit it. This is essential reading for book people, stimulating and thought-provoking fare for everyone.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

While many of us are still grappling with the issue of copyright protection, fair use, and photocopying, the Library of Congress has announced plans to digitize its collections and make its materials available by means of the so-called information superhighway. This move not only raises countless unanswered questions about copyright and intellectual property, but also hints that we still do not even know all the questions themselves. Shedding a focused light on the topic, copyright expert Goldstein traces the 300-year history of copyright, explains the concepts and rationale behind the idea of intellectual property rights, and highlights such noteworthy legal battles as 2 Live Crew's contested sampling of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman," Johnny Carson's challenge to Here's Johnny Portable Toilets, and the landmark video-copying dispute between Sony and Universal City. Both informative and entertaining, Copyright's Highway is an important book. David Rouse

Goldstein (law, Stanford) has produced an enlightening and highly readable addition to the copyright forum. Geared toward a more general audience than his Copyright: Principles, Law and Practice (Little, Brown, 1989), this new work highlights the evolution of legal and popular thought on copyright, emphasizing how it has shaped copyright law in the United States. He also discusses intriguing issues such as how the concept of fair use evolved; why "private" (i.e., for your own use) copying is currently allowed; how the issue of private copies could change with the introduction of movies (or books or music) on demand, fed via satellite directly to you; and how international concepts of but is of potential interest to anyone who owns a copyright, uses copyrighted material, or is concerned about how copyright laws may change in the future. Recommended for both special and general libraries.
Johanna Johnson, Dallas P.L.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.