Professor Paul Goldstein is the Stella W. and Ira S. Lillick Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. 

LST@Stanford: What are the most pressing challenges to the U.S. copyright system that you see arising in the near future?

Prof. Goldstein: The Internet’s dramatic dispersal of copyright control is the dominating near-term issue. One challenge is for markets to adjust their mechanisms for payment and control so that authors—and I include in that term artists and composers—get compensated for their creativity, while not undermining widespread enjoyment of their works. iTunes is one good example of an effective adjustment.

How do you think these challenges to copyright will play out in the international sphere? Will inter-national initiatives be helpful?

Prof. Goldstein: Again, the Internet, with its global reach, has raised substantial issues of governance and governing law. When an unauthorized transmission is made from a server in Vanuatu to a hard drive in England, what law determines whether the transmission is infringing? Will personal jurisdiction over the action lie in England? What about enforcement of the resulting judgment? There is a Hague Convention discussion underway, but the road promises to be long and bumpy. The American Law Institute is also working on these issues.

Does the current U.S. copyright regime still find the proper balance between rewarding creators for their original works and providing access to ‘culture’ to the public at large?

Prof. Goldstein: Your readers can answer that one at least as well as I can. Are they getting what they need—or want—in the way of information and enter-tainment? If so, that means creators are still creating works at a desirable level and consumers are enjoying access at a desirable level.

Professor Paul Goldstein is widely recognized as one of the country’s leading authorities on intellectual property law. He is the author of a four-volume treatise on U.S. copyright law, a one-volume treatise on international copyright law, and a widely adopted law school text on intellectual property. Goldstein is a frequent consultant to national and international commissions on intellectual property law and is a consulting practitioner with Morrison & Foerster. He has served as chairman of the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment Advisory Panel on Intellectual Property Rights in an Age of Electronics and Information. He teaches courses on copyright and intellectual property.