The new media has involved an expanded range of individuals and groups with interests in intellectual property, including not only the creators and users, but also the producers, developers, carriers and distributors. Because something is technically possible does not make it legal to do it. For example, just because it is technically possible to download a graphic from the Internet and paste it into the new Internet course does not make it legal. Creator s rights relate not only to ownership, but also to moral rights, the right of association, morphing and compression. Management concerns involve policy development, protection of liability, the process of seeking permission, licensing negotiations, record keeping of use and maintenance of licensing agreements.
Transmission concerns the method of distribution and the security of the distribution system.
In Canada, copyright is primarily an economic right, favouring the creator, not the user. The economic right refers to the material or fixed form of a piece of intellectual property. In Canada, copyright applies to a work for 50 years after the death of its author. This means that a group of producers of a multimedia work would, for example, own the work fifty years after the death of its last author. Copyright covers all types of works including literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works.