Article 27 of the Universal Declaration declares that “Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.” This right is closely aligned to freedom of speech as it protects the fruits of artistic expression.

Intellectual property rights take on a distinctive character in the cyberworld of the Internet. While the emergence of this new technology has showered many with riches, violations of copyright laws can and have cost people their livelihood. The musician or singer, the actor, the movie director, the writer — all are entitled to the rights attached to their creations.

A debate is ongoing that pits Internet users who favour an “everything goes” position against those who think law and order must extend to the Internet. Unfortunately, those in the first group are backed by people who claim they are entitled to what they perceive as their rights and use these claims to justify violations of others’ rights.

In the days when the Internet was still beginning to emerge, the Church of Scientology pioneered the protection of copyrights in the new medium. In a landmark case brought by the Church right in the heart of Silicon Valley, a United States District Court held that an access provider should have acted to prevent an Internet user from continuing to violate copyright laws after the copyright holder requested the provider to do so. This ruling created new precedent in a previously uncharted area of law and helped bring about the extension of Article 27 into the world of new technology. The headlines told the story: “Scientology Case Helps Define On-Line Liability,” “Copyright on the Web Enhanced.”

Around the same time, in Sweden in 1996, an individual placed stolen copies of unpublished religious materials belonging to the Church of Scientology in the library of the Swedish parliament, taking advantage of a weakness in the nation’s copyright law whereby any materials placed in the Parliament’s files were automatically considered to be “government materials” and therefore publicly available. The intent of this law was to allow the public to scrutinise the actions of the government; unfortunately, however, nobody had foreseen the misuse of the law and the consequences for private, copyrighted works.

Realising that this action posed a threat to all owners of intellectual properties, the Church took the matter to court and won a precedent-setting judgment against the infringer. The Church continued to work with Swedish legislators and other holders of intellectual properties to bring about lasting protection for copyright owners. As a result, in February 2000, the Swedish Parliament enacted an historic new law that gives full constitutional protection to the unpublished, copyrighted works of artists, writers and others who make their living through their creative works.