ELECTRONIC COPYRIGHT MANAGEMENT-SYSTEMS

Distinctive qualities of digital medium, coupled with the emergence of national and global information infrastructure, have given rise to Di gital Economy, which is changing the way the products are created, the nature of products themselves and how they are created. Electronic Co mmerce has brought forth a nea business models for publishers, distrib utors, and their customers. As everything is going digital, efficient management and controlled distribution of products and business, from the Intellectual Rights Property angle, has become one of the importan t considerations for the content owners before venturing into the new environment. The issues include expression of copyrights in creative d igital and non-digital products, use of such expressed rights for noti fication, enforcement, payment negotiation and monitoring. New technol ogies are being designed for automatic management of copyrights in dig ital products, and such electronic copyright management systems are li kely to be an integral part of content creator's creative process. Thi s article reviews the need and functions of electronic copyright manag ement systems, technologies and products, world-wide initiatives on th e subject, and the legal background for such systems and issues which may crop up in the future in the context of emerging digital technolog ies and Global Information Infrastructure.