Authors have to be made aware of copyright which protects publications from misuse by other interested parties. It deals with national and international aspects of copyright, how personal identities must be carefully protected, how to seek permission to copy other works, how long copyright remains in place, and where to seek help when issues arise.

Economic analysis understands intellectual property laws, including copyright law, as necessary to protect markets for information goods against an appropriation problem. The core value of creative and innovative product is the information on which books, movies, and inventions are based. Information is non-excludable to the extent that once it is distributed to some, it is difficult to prevent access to others.

Within his lifetime, Mark Twain established his alter ego as a brand, a recognizable commodity used to sell books, of course, but also inventions of his like Mark Twain’s Patented Self-Pasting Scrapbook. His name and likeness were used to sell cigars, whiskey, and a number of other products. After his death in 1910, his popularity and brand endured, even grew. He became a character that others used for their own purposes, until he has today become an icon and symbol of America. The history of Mark Twain’s use in popular culture is a fascinating study.

In this chapter I expand on whether and to what extent UK copyright law is capable of regulating street and graffiti art. There has been thus far no reported decision by British courts on copyright protection of these forms of art. This is also probably due to the fact that disputes are often settled out-of-court before a complaint is filed or a decision is reached. After all, this seems to be the rule in most cases regarding art. The chapter focuses on the following selected aspects: (i) requirements for copyright protection; (ii) authorship and ownership; (iii) moral rights; (iv) freedom of panorama exception; and (v) illegally created works.

This chapter examines how South African copyright law deals with graffiti and other works of street art. In doing so, it considers both the current law and some of the provisions of the country’s proposed Copyright Amendment Bill. The chapter addresses, among others, questions of originality, the requirement of permanency of fixation, issues surrounding the propriety and illegality of such works as well as authorship and ownership. In addition, the chapter explores the scope of, on the one hand, the economic and moral rights of street artists and, on the other, the availability of exceptions and limitations for those who wish to make permission-free use of such works, including South Africa’s version of the freedom of panorama exception. The chapter concludes by emphasising the need for more empirical research in this field.

The present article discusses whether the European Union, and especially Hungary, can successfully deal with the copyright problematic of the cultural/book heritage in a landscape that is colored by digital technologies, the Internet, and the ever growing number of services related to digitization and preservation. The paper introduces the key issues relevant to the copyright problematic of “digital world friendly” preservation and dissemination of our cultural heritage. It highlights that almost none of these matters is addressed by European Union law, which acts as an obstacle to effective cultural preservation in the digital age. The article also notes that the constant development of digital technologies has led to the appearance of new market players, new business models, and, consequently, new economic interests in the book industry. The chapter compares the present and future of book digitization by cultural institutions from a copyright perspective. It introduces the current framework of limitations and exceptions granted by the European Union – with a special focus on Hungary – for cultural preservation purposes.