Copyright's Highway: From Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox

From eighteenth-century copyright law, to current-day copyright issues on the internet, to tomorrow's “celestial jukebox”—a digital repository of books, movies, and music available on demand—Paul Goldstein presents a thorough examination of the challenges facing copyright owners and users. One of the nation's leading authorities on intellectual property law, Goldstein offers an engaging, readable, and intelligent analysis of the effect of copyright on American politics, economy, and culture.

Goldstein presents and analyzes key legal battles, including Supreme Court decisions on home taping and 2 Live Crew's contested sampling of Roy Orbison's “Pretty Woman.” In this revised edition, the author expands the discussion to cover electronic media, including an examination of recent Napster litigation, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the vexed Secure Digital Music Initiative, under which record companies attempted to develop effective encryption standards for their products.

Praise for the first edition:

“A clever and vibrant book that traces copyright history from the invention of the printing press through current challenges to copyright from new technologies . . . . Most compelling [on] multimedia technologies.”

—Sabra Chartrand, The New York Times

"This eminent authority writes with clarity, lucidity and a wry sense of humor about a subject whose complexities can be daunting."

—Jonathan Kirsch, Los Angeles Times

"A wonderfully American tale of how law, literature, politics and megabucks intersect."

—William Petrocelli, San FranciscoChronicle

In a refreshingly clearheaded and entertaining book, noted copyright expert Goldstein offers lucid answers to questions about copyright law and lore, and shows how important it is to understand that copyright issues shape not only the international marketplace but our very culture.

Paul Goldstein is the Lillick Professor of Law at Stanford University and is widely recognized as one of the country's leading authorities on intellectual property law. He is the author of a four-volume treatise on U.S. copyright law and a one-volume treatise on international copyright law, as well as two widely adopted law school texts on intellectual property. He has testified before congressional committees dealing with intellectual property matters and has been an invited expert at international governmental meetings on copyright issues.