Two thirds of the participants had access to e-mail, but over half of them had got it during the past 12 months. Mark Perkins started off noting that the law on copyright matters is grey and that even the lawyers cannot give precise advice. He defined what kind of rights are protected and that these rights are given by states, which places limits upon their applicability. He focused on electronic networks and on the use of computers and communications technology as this has the largest implications for copyright. Publishers, who are worried about the new technology, have made attempts to overcome the problem of copyright abuse through methods like encryption, protective software or licensing.
Bulletin boards present a case where there is a definite abuse of copyrights.
There are still many questions without an answer although there are various legislative proposals to address this area. Perkins also described the situation for electronic mail and for authors rights. He also outlined the implications of copyrights for the electronic networks and described the situation for developing countries in the context of the recently concluded General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The discussion after the lecture focused on the validity of the copyright statement attached to the documents, the future methods of reinforcement of the international existing copyright and the complexity of this kind of laws. The Latin American group focused on common problems with the retrieval of information from the region.