ABSTRACT
Copyright protects copyright holders, among other things, against unauthorised copying of their work. It is worth beginning; therefore, by examining where copying occurs in an e-commerce environment and, in particular, on the Internet. The Internet is a packet-switched network, and every communication over the Internet involves the copying and forwarding of each packet by the routers. Copyright is time-limited, therefore, though the duration of the protection is considerable, especially in the context of ephemeral media, such as the Internet. The Internet also attracts the law of copyright, however, in ways which have no real counterpart in the physical world. Copyright is a species of intellectual property and, as that description implies, is a form of property. Copyright in a work is infringed by a person who without the licence of the copyright owner does, or authorises another to do, any of the acts restricted by the copyright.
