This monograph provides a concise overview of the law of copyright from its origins in the English common law through recent Supreme Court cases, designed to provide judges with a grounding in the essential concepts and statutory and case law in this specialized area. The monograph covers the duration and renewal of copyright, ownership of copyright, copyright formalities, as well as jurisdictional and procedural issues and the preemption of state law by federal copyright statutes. New material in this second edition includes updated case law, including Internet copying anLink to superseding edition added. MSd music downloading; the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; judicial interpretation of Copyright Office regulations, decisions, and practices; and expanded coverage of contributory and vicarious liability, increasingly invoked by plaintiffs in infringement cases. The monograph covers developments in case law through May 1, 2006.

The subsequent edition of this title was published by Thomson Reuters in 2012.