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Do electronic or online publications raise special copyright problems?
They can, but the problems are mainly practical, not legal. Before the development of computers and the Internet, it was relatively hard to reproduce and distribute materials. That is why authors almost always gave up their copyright to publishers, in exchange for royalties. It was too hard for them to publish a book on their own. The same principles apply to copyright violators. Imagine buying a large encyclopaedia set and trying to copy and sell it in violation of the copyright laws. It would cost a small fortune in paper and binding, let alone trying to find space to stock your copies or stores to distribute it. If a friend asked you for a photocopy, you would probably just laugh.
Now think about that same encyclopaedia in electronic format, on CD-ROM. You can copy all or part of it with a few commands on a computer, and easily store a four volume work on a small, inexpensive disc. You can give the copy to a friend, and deprive the author and publisher of their legitimate revenue. The copyright rules aren't any different, but the practicalities of enforcing those rules are.
December 1998
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