Copyright Watch
Copyright Watch collects and monitors copyright laws from all over the world.
http://www.copyright-watch.org/
The details of copyright law used to be important for only a few in the
creative industries. Now, with the growth of the Internet, we are all
authors, publishers, and sharers of copyrighted works.
Our dream was to build a user-friendly resource of national copyright laws
to help citizens of the world undertake comparative research. We wanted to
raise awareness of the importance of balanced copyright law in the
information society, and draw attention to points of commonality and of
difference in countries' laws and legal traditions. We also wanted to
create an information sharing resource, where copyright watchers could
post information about proposed amendments to their own copyright laws,
and understand the changes in others.
We hope that Copyright Watch will be a resource maintained and driven by
the Access to Knowledge community and that copyright monitors in each
country will help to keep this information up to date and relevant.
Finally, we hope that Copyright Watch will help document the importance of
copyright to all aspects of cultural life and human freedom. Balanced and
well-calibrated copyright laws are extremely important in our global
information society. The smallest shift in the legal balance between the
rights of copyright owners and users of copyrighted knowledge can destroy
or enable business models, criminalize or liberate everyday behaviour, and
transform or eradicate new technology. A law that is passed in one nation
can quickly be taken up by others, through bilateral trade agreements,
regional policy initiatives or international treaties. We all need to keep
watch.
