Discusses current optical data disk databases, their uses, and factors that will affect database copyrights. The factors discussed include hardware and software developments, multimedia applications, multiuser capabilities, and downloading capacities. (7 references) (CLB)

American copyright law provides a means of stimulating intellectual development and protecting the ownership interests of the authors of copyrighted works. Over the years, U.S. copyright law has evolved in order to respond to societal and technological changes. Under the copyright statute certain uses of a copyrighted work are permitted under the…

This article uses three case studies to examine the intersecting developments of technology, capitalism, and globalization through the contradictions and paradoxes of copyright governance and piracy. China is used as a case study to investigate the relations among the state, law, and global capitalism. (Contains 7 tables and 9 notes.)