Maryland Law Review Volume 59 | Issue 2 Article 7 The Roman Law Roots of Copyright Russ Ver Steeg Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr Part of the Intellectual Property Commons Recommended Citation Russ Ver Steeg, The Roman Law Roots of Copyright, 59 Md. L. Rev. 522 (2000) Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr/vol59/iss2/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Journals at DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maryland Law Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE ROMAN LAW ROOTS OF COPYRIGHT Russ VERSTEEG* INTRODUCTION Modern technology-specifically the computer and its uses via the Internet-increasingly demands that we reconsider and rethink copyright law.' This phenomenon is not new. Before computers made us reassess copyright law, other once-new forms of copying, communication, and information transmission did the same for the following: the satellite,2 the photocopier,' the VCR,4 radio,5 sound recording,6 photography,7 the printing press,8 and various forms of television,9 including cable television. 10 Attempting to keep up with technology is one of the things that makes law, and particularly copy- right law, so challenging. The law is constantly scurrying to keep pace with changing technology and societal expectations that evolve in the * Professor, New England School of Law, Boston, MA. J.D., University of Connecti- cut School of Law; A.B. (Latin) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.