Sony BMG Music Entertainment V. Tenenbaum

This was a case in which Sony, the record company, sued Tenenbaum for downloading and sharing thirty songs without their consent. These were wilful actions that the defendant already knew were illegal. He had done this as from the year 1999 – 2007 and down the line some of his sharing channels had been shut down because they were not legal. The record company was awarded $675,000. This was a fair outcome as he was clearly guilty of the offenses however the amount he was asked to pay was more than the record actually would have gained if they had sold the songs themselves (Pannell, 1997). It was more meant to make him the sacrificial lamb so as to deter others from doing so.

Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u The Digital Millennium Copyright Act will impact the shape of future legislation. PAGEREF _Toc377400152 h 1Balance between protecting individual inventiveness and stimulating a vibrant shared culture. PAGEREF _Toc377400153 h 1Global intellectual property rights, provide specific examples to support your response. PAGEREF _Toc377400154 h 2

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act will impact the shape of future legislation.The Act criminalizes production and dissemination of devices that are has copyright information, this law also criminalizes having an access point that can be used to distribute any kind of copyright information (Pannell, 1997). This law has the impact of protecting the originality of music and information; this will enable the government to put a check on piracy of music. This is because it makes the original owner of the music not to sell at all yet he has to pay taxes. Downloading music will be completely restricted unless one is actually purchasing the music online. The downloaded music will not be shared.

Balance between protecting individual inventiveness and stimulating a vibrant shared culture.This are two sides of the same coin, this is because there cannot be a shared culture without people nor can there be individuals inventing new ideas without the society. The best society is one that encourages the individuals to be independent and autonomous from the society. This offers a platform in which individual can learn how to adapt to their environment by coming up with new ways to make life easy (Lawrence, 2004). This means that the society should have cohesion not due to similarities but due to the differences and the multiplicity of the increasing needs of man that are ever changing. For instance an engineer can discover something new but he still needs a doctor to treat him when ill using the latest medicine and procedure. The society becomes unified and satisfying the needs of everyone.

Global intellectual property rights, provide specific examples to support your response.Global intellectual property ensures that firms give their consumers quality products and ensures that the public gets value for their money. This basically ensures safety as there will be no substandard commodities (Lawrence, 2004). Intellectual property improves economic growth and enhances competitiveness of firms; this will improve the working conditions of the people and also make the business cycle more predictable.

Intellectual property is also the inventions that are brought about by creation of a stimulating environment. The increase in the level of technology can be attributed to the global intellectual property. This has turned the world into a global village where communication is possible by just a touch of a single button.

References

Pannell, D.J. (1997). WIPO, Intellectual Property Handbook; A comprehensive Introduction to the policy, law and use of IP. Prentice Hall Press, New Jersey

Lawrence, M.B, (2004), Understanding Copyright and Related Rights; Innovations and limits of the aftermath, University of Oklahoma Press