(The tangled relationships between technology and intellectual property involve a multitude of international questions, but the laws of the United States give us some good starting points. Also, the situation in our country contains more than enough problems to keep us busy, as we shall soon see.) Here is what the United States Constitution *http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Constitution.html* says in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8: "Congress shall have the power . . . To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." Now compare this with an excerpt from the "Online Terms of Us" at the web site of Warner Brothers as these terms appeared in 1999: "Any notes, message/billboard postings, ideas, suggestions, concepts or other material submitted will become the property of Warner Bros. throughout the universe and Warner Bros. shall be entitled to use the material for any type of use forever including in any media whether now known or hereafter devised." Note the differences between these two documents. The Constitution applies only to the United States; Warner Bros., with its claim of jurisdiction "throughout the universe," apparently controls things out where even the World Intellectual Property Organization does not tread. The Constitution secures rights to the original "Authors and Inventors;" Warner Brothers is claiming rights to material that others have created and submitted to the company. The Constitution uses the phrase "limited Times;" Warner Brothers claims that their entitlement lasts "forever." Warner Brothers does not even want to be bound by the limits of today's technology: whatever comes along, "in any media whether now known or hereafter devised," belongs to the company. If we go beyond the original words of the Constitution and look at the specifics of modern copyright law, another noteworthy detail...
