Today we live in a world of instant global communications. Everyone is familiar with the technological developments that have come with dazzling rapidity. New techniques for recording and transmitting texts, sound or visual images have proliferated. Digital technology has created prodigious capacities to store, disseminate and retrieve knowledge.
These technologies are providing unprecedented possibilities for communication between people as well as for the development of cultural industries and exploitation of works all over the world. At the same time, the possibility of piracy of protected works has increased dramatically. It is thus not surprising that in many countries, as well as in the international arena, copy right laws and international standards are being regularly revised to meet the challenges of new technologies.
Copyright law plays now more than ever an important role in the modern world. This introductory chapter aims at providing an understanding of this complex legal domain by taking also a look at its underlying principles and the way copyright laws have evolved over the centuries in response to technological developments and society’s needs.

CONTENT
Copyright – Past and Present
The Scope of Copyright Protection
Copyright Ownership
The Moral Rights of Authors
Economic Rights of Authors
Limitations to Copyright Protection
Transfer of Rights: Assignment, Licensing and Succession
Protection of Related (Neighbouring) Rights
Enforcement of Copyright and Related Rights
Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights

International Copyright and Related Rights Protection