Unknown rights and Baseball strikes

Abstract

Digital technology has authors in a rundown. While Internet users question whether copyright has a place in the National Information Infrastructure, print publishers are insisting on acquiring from authors rights to all electronic media, known or unknown, whether now existing or yet to be developed. Contrary to the intent of copyright law, publishers are not offering additional compensation for tying up these rights. The solution, says the Authors League of America, lies in adopting the proposals of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights and in taking a further step: rendering rights to unknown media inalienable.