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Article: Mapping the digital public domain: threats and opportunities. (Conference on the Public Domain)
- Article from:
- Law and Contemporary Problems
- Article date:
- January 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Duke University, School of Law. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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INTRODUCTION
Whether the public domain is a virtual wasteland of undeserving detritus or the font of all new creation is the subject of some debate. (1) Those who adhere to the former perspective do not worry about "threats" to this domain any more than they would worry about scavengers who go to garbage dumps to look for abandoned property. Adherents of the latter view, interestingly enough, are not of one mind about "threats" to this domain. Some believe that propertizing value residing in the public domain will produce more social benefit than letting content languish there, (2) while others regard propertization itself as the main threat to the public domain. ...