The notion of ownership is intimately tied up with the way technology produces or reproduces the cultural artefact. With oral production or hand-copied texts, works were attributed to masters.With mass reproduction – first as printed works, and later as music, films etc – two different sets of ownership rights were created -- the author and the copyright owner. With digital technology and new ways of reproduction and distribution, the issue of ownership – of the original work as well as the electronic copy – has also now become the subject of debate.
The notion of ownership is intimately tied up with the way technology produces or reproduces the cultural artefact. With oral production or hand-copied texts, works were attributed to masters.With mass reproduction – first as printed works, and later as music, films etc – two different sets of ownership rights were created -- the author and the copyright owner. With digital technology and new ways of reproduction and distribution, the issue of ownership – of the original work as well as the electronic copy – has also now become the subject of debate.