Adventures in Understanding the Jungle of Copyright Laws; Copyright and fair use laws are difficult to define and dangerous to interpret. But I can offer you tips to help you evade the wildlife and cut your way through the dense undergrowth of tangled words and phrases.

The technology of today is changing the laws of yesterday. Now in addition to "copy rights" we have what is called "electronic rights." These issues arose because the contracts by which publishers acquired print rights were either silent or vague and uncertain on rights for new electronic publications. Publishers argued that electronic databases used online were covered under the "collective works" section of the United States Copyright Act...