Scope

This Research Guide will assist you in finding information about the legal issues of online music and other file sharing and help you address the question: Is it just being neighborly or is it piracy? In addition to online music copyright issues, this guide provides information about copyright law as it relates to the online entertainment industry, including the visual, audio and digital arts. For more information related to intellectual property & copyright issues, see the Research Guide: Intellectual Property & Copyright.

Overview

Cybercrime: A Reference Handbook
College Library Reference Collection: HV 6773 S3547 2004

The Oxford Companion to Music
College Library Reference Collection: ML 100 .S37 2002
Refer to "copyright," pages 305-309

CQ Researcher November 1991 - to date (updated weekly)
Contains weekly reports from Congressional Quarterly that cover the most current and controversial issues. Basic instructions for CQ Researcher

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online 1992 (updated daily)
Britannica Online is a searchable collection of authoritative references, including Britannica's latest encyclopedia articles. Basic instructions for Encyclopædia Britannica Online

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center 1990 - to date (updated daily)
Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (OVRC) includes the acclaimed social issues series published by Greenhaven Press, as well as core reference content from other Gale and Macmillan Reference USA sources and provides viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.

Finding Journal and News Articles

Below are links to databases that cover this subject area. The truncation symbol for all of them is an asterisk (*) unless otherwise noted.

Sample searches for databases:

peer-to-peer file sharing
music industry and lawsuit*
Napster and (lawsuit or trial* or litiga*)
file sharing
electronic publishing and piracy
litigation and digital music
Kazaa and copyright
online piracy
video and copyright and interest
DVD hackers
Digital Millenium Act
webcasting and copyright

Recommended Databases:

Academic Search 1984 - to date (updated daily)
This library database indexes approximately 3,100 popular magazines and academic journals and provides the full-text articles from approximately 1,000 journals. Basic instructions for Academic Search

CQ Researcher November 1991 - to date (updated weekly)
Contains weekly reports from Congressional Quarterly that cover the most current and controversial issues. Basic instructions for CQ Researcher

Lexis/Nexis Academic Universe Dates Vary (updated daily)
Contains the full-text articles from U.S. and international newspapers (including the New York Times, June 1980 - to date), as well as some news and business magazines and trade journals. The truncation symbol is an exclamation point (!). Basic instructions for Lexis/Nexis Academic Universe

ProQuest Research Library 1988 - to date (updated daily)
Indexes over 2,000 general-interest and academic journals. Nearly 1,000 periodicals are full-text. Dates vary, but many full-text journals go back to 1988. Basic instructions for ProQuest Research Library

Readers' Guide Full Text and Retrospective 1890 - to date (updated monthly)
Indexes 240 popular magazines in a wide range of subject areas. Full-text coverage of 131 titles begins with 1994. Basic instructions for Readers' Guide Full Text

Finding Books

MadCat
Books on music and movie file sharing can be found in MadCat, the UW-Madison library catalog.

Sample keyword searches:

piracy and copyright?
cyberspace and law?
internet and copyright
http and copyright (to find electronic resources)

Internet Sites

Chilling Effects
http://www.chillingeffects.org
Chilling Effects is a joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, University of San Francisco, and University of Maine law school clinics. The website offers background material and explanations of the law for people whose websites deal with topics such as Fan Fiction, Copyright, Domain Names and Trademarks, Anonymous Speech, and Defamation. Their Web site also has a searchable database.

Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://www.eff.org
Based in San Francisco, EFF is a donor-supported membership organization that works to protect civil liberties in the digital/technological world. Their Web site contains a wealth of information, including an "Issues" section with an index of topics, active and past legal cases the organization has been involved with, an "Action Center" that alerts activists on technology and civil liberties issues and pending legislation, and a "Press Room" which features recents news events.

International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)
http://www.ifpi.org
The IFPI is an organization that represents the international recording industry. The IFPI Web site includes the following information topics: press and publications, anti-piracy definitions and individual cases, copyright, and the recording industry.

Napster
http://www.napster.com
Though Napster's music filesharing community was shut down in 2001 after a court ruled it violated copyright laws, the company was purchased by software company Roxio. The new Napster 2.0 offers music downloads for a fee.

Pew Internet and American Life
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/c/4/topics.asp
The Web site is hosted by the Pew Research Center, an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. The "Technology & Media Use" section includes several reports dealing with public and industry attitudes and practices regarding music file sharing.

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
http://www.riaa.com
The RIAA "works to protect intellectual property rights worldwide and the First Amendment rights of artists." The RIAA Web site has a special section called "anti-piracy" which includes how they define piracy, recent news coverage, and lawsuit information. Also included on the rest of the site are sections on copyright basics, freedom of speech, market data (such as a searchable database of artist sales), licensing and royalties, a glossary of issues and terms, downloading, webcasting, soundbyting and audio technologies.

The Scout Report
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sr/current
Internet Scout Project Report archives are searchable and contain links to various other sites on a variety of different topics. Search terms: "file-sharing," "piracy," and "Napster."

Tech Law Journal
http://www.techlawjournal.com
Based in Washington D.C. this journal offers a comprehensive listing of news, records and analysis of legislation, litigation, and regulations affecting the computer and Internet industries.

United States Copyright Office
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright
See "copyright basics" to view background information about the topic. Also see the frequently asked questions (FAQ) page on this Web site to get a general introduction to the organization.

Organizations

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
http://www.riaa.com
"The RIAA "works to protect intellectual property rights worldwide and the First Amendment rights of artists.
Its members are the record companies that comprise the most vibrant national music industry in the world. RIAA members create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 90% of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States."

International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)
http://www.ifpi.org
"IFPI is the organisation representing the international recording industry. It comprises a membership of 1500 record producers and distributors in 76 countries. It also has national groups in 46 countries. IFPI's international Secretariat is based in London and is linked to regional offices in Brussels, Hong Kong, Miami and Moscow."

Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://www.eff.org
"Based in San Francisco, EFF is a donor-supported membership organization working to protect our fundamental rights regardless of technology; to educate the press, policymakers and the general public about civil liberties issues related to technology; and to act as a defender of those liberties."

Recording Artists' Coalition
http://www.recordingartistscoalition.com
"RAC is a nonprofit, non-partisan coalition formed to represent the interests of recording artists with regard to legislative issues in which corporate and artists' interests conflict, and to address other public policy debates that come before the music industry."