In most areas of society we turn to historical traditions to help settle disputes and guide the development of law. However with the Internet there are no traditions and the law making has been left up to judges, and has no precedent that can be easily followed. The task of determining the law of the Internet is primarily a task of applying basic principles of law to a new environment.
Below are the three main areas of legal concern that affect the Internet are discussed.
The law of copyright gives the person entitled to the copyright the legal right to prevent the unauthorised copying of works, images, sounds, etc. It does not stop others from independently creating the same work. It also does not prevent the use of the ideas expressed in the copyrighted work. Copyright usually lasts for many years (up to 70 years after the author's death).
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A patent is a monopoly right which a country gives to an inventor to prevent others from making, using, or selling an invention. Patent rights are obtained only after an application is filed with and granted by a patent office.
The emergence of software patents has not been universally praised. Some people suggest that patents will have a negative impact on the growth of the Internet. They argue that competition will be unfairly limited if a company can use the patent system to keep all competitors out of its core business.
In contrast, many argue that copyright protection for computer programs has become excessively narrow. It has been suggested that the only way to protect software and Internet programs is through the patent system.
The law in most countries of the world recognises the ownership and protection of names and brands used in trade, referred to here as a trademark. A trademark must be registered in each country in which protection is required. Trademark law requires that for the mark to be registered it must be capable of distinguishing the goods or services of the proprietor from those of another.
On the Internet a domain name is unique, as there cannot be two the same anywhere in the world, a bit like a trademark. For this reason businesses with established names may be prevented from using those names on the Internet simply because another business, possibly in an unrelated sector of the market, has registered the same domain name.
As the Internet is a world wide resource the traditional concept of location has been severely altered. This as many benefits, however when it comes to legal issues on the Internet it creates a series of problems. When people in different parts of the word have a dispute over event that happen over the Internet, whose law governs.
Most Internet lawyers believe that if a web site conducts business with customers in a particular country, then the operators of that web site will be subject to the laws of that country. This result could subject Internet companies to conflicting regulations. This area of the law is still being developed.
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