Improvising Cyberlaw-intellectual property on the Internet

Abstract

In April 1998, the US Department of Commerce announced that the traffic on the Internet doubling every 100 days. No-one can deny that the Internet has changed the world, especially the business world. Every business wants to have a presence on the World Wide Web, which has the potential to increase profits, but also has the potential to expose them to a whole new world of legal hazards. Today's business person has to be mindful of these hazards, such as each nation's distinct intellectual property laws in a global market, and the new issues of 'Cyberlaw' such as linking, framing and meta-tags. These issues are too important and the consequences too enormous to be overlooked by today's business communicators. There is a movement toward global property laws on the Internet. In the meantime, the laws of the Internet are being created by courts around the world. Since there is no case law or historical basis for any of these issues, Cyberlaw is being pieced together by judges and governments by stretching and interpreting existing law for this strange new world, and this world is smaller than ever before. We all must respect others' properties and, at the same time, be willing to share our properties to advance the creative development of online ideas.