This book tells the story of how, over centuries, people, society and culture created laws affecting supply of information. In the 21 century, uniform global copyright laws are claimed to be indispensable to the success of entertainment, internet and other information industries. Do copyright laws encourage information flow? Many say that copyright laws limit dissemination, harming society. In the last 300 years, industries armed with copyrights controlled output and distribution. Now the internet's disruption of economic patterns may radically reshape information regulation. Information freedom, a source of emancipation, may change the world.

This book discusses the origins of wealth inequality and explains how societies can reform to avoid the catastrophe of inequality-induced social breakdown. It develops a theoretical and practical understanding of the principles behind the concept of ownership and property, complete with historical examples. It proposes a new research perspective focusing on how the problem of wealth concentration is ameliorated by cooperative and collaborative initiatives to enhance the public sphere, without derogating from the private. The book is based on research data compiled from taxation and household data to explore the theme that wealth inequality is made inevitable by possessive behaviour expressed in possessive language. It shows that while inequality is inescapable, we can adopt policies where resources are more efficiently and broadly distributed for public benefit. Such policies are directed towards encouraging voluntary, as opposed to compulsory, wealth transfer to achieve public good. The primary market for the book consists of academics and students from the fields of economics, including growth and developmental economics, law, sociology, history, business and international trade. It also provides a practical resource for government policy analysts wanting to develop a more detailed understanding of the role played by wealth inequality in a range of social problems.

This book tells the story of how, over centuries, people, society and culture created laws affecting supply of information. In the 21 century, uniform global copyright laws are claimed to be indispensable to the success of entertainment, internet and other information industries. Do copyright laws encourage information flow? Many say that copyright laws limit dissemination, harming society. In the last 300 years, industries armed with copyrights controlled output and distribution. Now the internet's disruption of economic patterns may radically reshape information regulation. Information freedom, a source of emancipation, may change the world.

If copyright law does not liberate us from restrictions on the dissemination of knowledge, if it does not encourage expressive freedom, what is its purpose? This volume offers the thinking and suggestions of some of the finest minds grappling with the future of copyright regulation. The Copyright Future Copyright Freedom conference, held in 2009 at Old Parliament House, Canberra, brought together Lawrence Lessig, Julie Cohen, Leslie Zines, Adrian Sterling, Sam Ricketson, Graham Greenleaf, Anne Fitzgerald, Susy Frankel, John Gilchrist, Michael Kirby and others to share the rich fruits of their experience and analysis. Zines, Sterling and Gilchrist outline their roles in the genesis and early growth of Australian copyright legislation, enriching the knowledge of anyone asking urgent questions about the future of information regulation.

How did copyright laws come into being? Were they designed to encourage production and dissemination? Are current policy assumptions justified? Critics claim that laws facilitate predatory pricing and distribution controls, denying millions access to material. Advocates argue that legislation creates productive incentive. Without stringent legal safeguards creators and producers will produce much less. This book brings to life the fascinating hidden interplay of personalities and events that made modern copyright law. Illuminating the history of Australian legislation (and complementary developments in the United Kingdom and elsewhere) it supplies surprising answers to previously unanswered questions. In the words of Professor Brian Fitzgerald, it 'provides any student, policy maker, practitioner or user of copyright law with a tremendous platform on which to build understanding, argument and ultimately policy direction.'

This volume discusses how proprietary notions increasingly dominated copyright legal principles, with consequences for information dissemination in modern times. It covers the period to 1850, and begins with extracts from Roman law and early Christian and medieval teaching on ownership. The volume traces philosophical arguments about copyright law, reproducing writings of John Milton and John Locke on freedom of expression, and copyright justifications supplied by the idealist philosophers Johann Fichte and Immanuel Kant. Readings explain how the developments that created the social and political systems of modern Britain and the United States also produced the beginnings of the modern system of copyright regulation. The volume highlights seminal works of leading US copyright scholars Lyman Ray Patterson, Benjamin Kaplan and Mark Rose, and includes correspondence of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison on copyright policy.

This volume shows how, since 1950, the growth of copyright regulation has followed, and enabled, the extraordinary economic growth of the entertainment, broadcasting, software and communications industries. It reproduces articles written by an extensive list of leading thinkers. US scholars represented in readings include James Boyle, Lawrence Lessig, Pamela Samuelson, Mark Lemley, Alfred Yen, Julie Cohen, Peter Jaszi and Eben Moglen. Leading non-US contributors include Alan Story, Brian Fitzgerald and Peter Drahos. These and other authors explain copyright origins, the development of the law, the theory of enclosure, international trends, recent developments, and current and future directions. Today, the copyright system is often portrayed as an engine of growth, and effective regulation as a predictor of economic development. However, critics see dangers in the expansion of intellectual property rights. The articles in this volume focus principally on the digital age, examining how copyright regulation is likely to affect goals of dissemination and access.