Copyright's Highway

Goldstein, a Stanford law professor and copyright expert, here makes what can be a dry subject positively sparkle. Writing with humor, color and lucidity, he offers laypeople and professionals alike a swift history of copyright, its philosophies in different nations (a matter of great importance in the current GATT talks with Europe) and zeroes in keenly on the recent controversies surrounding it. There is an account of the 30-year-old, epochal Williams & Wilkins case against government medical libraries for excessive copying of journals that, improbably, has the dash of a courtroom thriller; and a brilliant examination of Congress's reluctance to become involved in the vexed question of private, at-home copying on tape recorders and VCRs. Throughout, Goldstein is careful to make clear the radically different philosophies of intellectual property that often sunder such otherwise sound allies as publishers and librarians: the copyright optimists, seeking to expand its sway, and the pessimists, seeking to limit it. This is essential reading for book people, stimulating and thought-provoking fare for everyone.