Copyright Law: Computers And Intermediate Copying

Three cases this past year have dealt with the concept of "intermediate copying" in the computer context, grappling with the question of how and when an author's work may be digitally duplicated as part of the process of creating a non-infringing end product. Even though all three cases were decided by the courts of the Ninth Circuit, the results were anything but uniform. This column will describe the three cases, and identify the different ways in which they approach the basic problem of re-using existing works as stepping stones to the development of new ones. As artists increasingly turn to image scanning and sound sampling as a routine part of their creative process, and as programmers and database purveyors find new ways to modify and exploit the work of their competitors, the issue of intermediate copying may take on new importance in the years ahead. One of the decisions below may point the way toward a future consensus in this as-yet unsettled body of law, but until the dust