Copyrights in the New World

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At this point there is simply no question about it: The digital revolution is going to change beyond recognition our understanding of the concept of copyrighted materials. It is difficult to believe that merely a few years ago a movie, music recording, or book was exclusively sold as a physical object containing an analog representation of the copyrighted material. Nowadays, software, movies, books, and music recordings are all exposed to the same problem— they can all be stored in digital form on personal computers. This new reality has completely changed the name of the game for copyright owners of traditional copyrighted materials such as music and movies, and has put them in the same (highly uncomfortable) position that software vendors have been in for years: They have absolutely no control over what happens to their precious assets.