Vulnerability of intellectual property

One of the earliest copyright disputes dates from sixth-century Ireland. St. Columba had copied out for himself a manuscript of the Latin Psalter, and the owner of the original, Finnian of Druim Finn, objected. The king ruled: "As the calf belongs to the cow, so the copy belongs to its book." A war ensued; the "copyright violator" prevailed and held on to the book.

1. Copyright is in crisis. Photocopying, sound- and video-recording, computers, and the net have all made it increasingly difficult for the owners of copyright to enforce their rights. Levies or legal penalties only patch the holes in an already leaky system. The flaw lies not in the technology or in our society, but in the very notion of copyright.

1. Insecurity of property

1. Theft of tradition knowledge for commercial gain
2. Patent abuse
3. Computer infringement of intellectual property rights
4. Avoidance of copyright

1. Prevention of the exchange of ideas
2. Economic crime
3. Economic conflict
4. Distortion of international trade through obstacles to patent protection
5. Crimes against intangible property
6. Copyright barriers to transfer of knowledge

1. Unethical intellectual practices
2. Proprietary possession of common resources
3. Plagiarism
4. Insecurity of mobile telephone communication
5. Inaccessible religious records
6. Forgery
7. Faulty academic peer review
8. Denigrating comparative advertising
9. Counterfeiting

1. Restrictive business practices in relation to patents and trademarks

1. Stealing intellectual property
2. Protecting intellectual property
3. Opposing intellectual property
4. Evaluating effects of world trade agreements on intellectual property rights
5. Engaging in piracy
6. Enforcing anti-piracy laws
7. Asserting property rights
8. Abstaining from protection for industrial property

1. Denial
2. Inadequacy
3. Theft
4. Lack
5. Vulnerability
6. Piracy