Читать книгу A Dentist’s Guide to the Law - American Dental Association - Страница 95

At times, copyright law has had difficulty keeping up with the explosive developments of the Internet. For example, the law wrestled for some time with the question of whether patents or copyright should be used to protect computer software programs. The answer is that, based on the circumstances, either one may apply. There are those who have argued that in the wide-open environment of the Web such intellectual property concepts are outmoded. It is so easy to download from or upload to the Internet, and there is so much content freely circulated on it that many people have been lulled into the false sense that if content can be accessed from their computers, then it is there for the taking and sharing.

Copyright law applies to Internet content pretty much the same way it applies to written content, music, radio and television broadcasts, photos, and any of the other sorts of works covered by the copyright statute. When you post an article, photo, or video clip on your Facebook page, your blog or your website, you are potentially publishing it to a large audience, including to third parties unknown to you. That is a qualitatively and quantitatively different act from copying an article putting it in an envelope along with a letter to a friend or loved one.