A Study On The Transformation Of U.S.Copyright Law Since 1976

Since the 1970 s,there has been a widespread belief in the United States that it is in decline and being overtaken by other nations.The United States believes that this decline can be stopped only by using innovation as a means of stimulating economic growth.But the innovation needs the safeguard of the legal system.Congress began work on the Copyright Act in 1955 and passed and enacted the current Copyright Law of the United States in 1976.It was the beginning of copyright law 40-year transformation of the United States.This thesis focuses on the transformation of the Copyright Law of the United States since 1976.The thesis consists of Introduction,Chapter One to Chapter Five and the Conclusion.The first chapter introduces and analyzes the emergence of the current copyright law in the United States,mainly including the background,process and the establishment of the system.The law comes into being against the background of the revolution of science and technology,the development of copyright industry,the increasing need to protect the interests of the overseas copyright market of American enterprises and the change of the concept of copyright legitimacy.The law mainly establishes the subject,object,rights,restriction and utilization system.The second chapter discusses the early growth of the Copyright Law of the United States since 1976.The early formative years were from 1978 to 1989,when the Copyright Act came into force in 1976 and before the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1989.This chapter discusses the background of the early growth,including the birth and development of the software industry,music and film piracy rampant crime,record rental industry rapid development.In this context,the Copyright Law of the United States began its early stages of development.In the early stage,the computer program became the object,the punishment standard for the copyright crime was raised,and the right of renting records was established.This chapter also shows the operation of copyright law by the classical cases of the continuous expansion of the object of computer program.These cases involve object code,computer operating system programs,computer program structure,and microcodes.The third chapter discusses the development of Copyright Law of the United States in the period of Berne Convention Implementation Act.The period begins with the entry into force of the Berne Convention Implementation Act and ends with the enactment of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act,i.e.1989 to 1998.The Berne Convention Implementation Act brought many significant changes to the Copyright law of the United States,ending the early growth of copyright law.Against the background of growing piracy of American copyrighted works in other countries,the withdrawal of the United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization,and growing criticism of U.S not joining the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works by other countries,the Copyright Law of the United States continued to evolve with the entry into force of the Berne Convention Implementation Act,the Visual Artists Rights Act and the Architecture Copyright Protection Act.This chapter also takes the Carter case as an example to show the operation of copyright law in the period of Berne Convention Implementation Act.The fourth chapter discusses the evolution of Copyright Law of the United States from 1998 to the present.This period began in 1998 when the United States enacted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.The most important law of the period was the Digital Millennium Copyright Act,which brought significant changes to the Copyright law of the United States.The Bill Clinton Administration actively promotes the adaptation of Copyright Law to developments in digital technology,and the World Intellectual Property Organization has developed the Copyright Treaty and the Performance and Phonogram Treaty,the United States to fulfill the World Intellectual Property Organization Treaty obligations and other reasons to promote the birth of Digital Millennium Copyright Act.In this period,in order to meet the challenge of new technology,the United States made the rules of anti-circumvention of technology protection measures,and made the "safe harbor" rules to balance the interests of copyright owners and Internet service providers and divide their responsibilities.This thesis expounds the above rules and analyzes the reasons behind them.This chapter also reflects and summarizes the Digital Millennium Copyright Law’s gains and losses.The fifth chapter discusses the future of Copyright Law of the United States and its enlightenment to China.The Digital Millennium Copyright Act has been in force for more than 20 years.In February 2020,the United States Senate held hearings to hear opinions and suggestions on the law.Based on the materials of the hearing,this chapter discusses the future reform of the Digital Millennium Copyright Law.Facing the next generation Internet,facing the international treaty obligations,facing the network vulnerable groups,relying on new technology,facing new technology is the general trend.This chapter then compares copyright law similarities and differences between the United States and other countries in the common law system,through the comtrast,analysis is made of the advantages and disadvantages of the Copyright law of the United States.Finally,the enlightenment of Copyright Law of the United States to our country is discussed.The conclusion summarizes the characteristics of Copyright Law of the United States and analyzes the causes.The expansion of copyright has been a major theme of Copyright Law of the United States’ transformation since 1976.The four reasons for the change are mainly technological development,protection concept,the impact of the Neoclassical economics,the rules of law itself.