ABSTRACT
The Internet is the product of the interconnection of computers and computer networks worldwide, within which exists ‘cyberspace’ – a global medium of communication which links people, corporations, institutions and governments throughout the world. Courts in common law jurisdictions are generally of the view that the copying of a work into a computer’s random access memory could ipso facto infringe the copyright owner’s rights. The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted a revised Code of Conduct for the Regulation and Operation of Computer Reservation Systems. The revised Code replaced the version the ICAO Council adopted in 1991, and took effect from 1 November 1996. The legal consequences of transborder data flows and the competition that would follow the possibility of non-airline private companies and organizations placing airline schedules in their own Web sites pose real challenges to legal reasoning. The chapter addresses these issues in the light of international regulation of computer reservation systems.
