Headlines vary from copyright owners gaining too many new rights, to consumers being denied access to digital works.
BY LESLEY ELLEN HARRIS
Copyright law, by its nature, is a balancing act evident behind each provision in a country's copyright statute. On the one hand, copyright law provides an exclusive bundle of rights to creators, owners and distributors of copyright-protected materials, and on the other hand, these rights are limited in time and scope. For example, authors in the U.S. automatically have copyright protection for their entire life plus 70 years after death (only 50 years in some countries, such as Canada). During this time, the author and heirs have exclusive rights such as the right to publish the book, translate it, and make an adaptation of it into a screenplay/movie. Seventy years after the death of the author, and the work is said to be in the public domain.
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