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Technology and Consumer Rights in Copyright
By
Dr. Michael Seadle
Michigan State University Libraries
PRE-DIGITAL COPYING TECHNOLOGY
Three factors: 1) copying technology, 2) having a market for the intellectual work, and 3) having a cost-effective distribution mechanism
Photocopying was private, labor-intensive, & unremunerative until high-quality dry processes and copy-shops came into being.
By then consumers had acquired explicit legal rights over intellectual property owned by others.
CONSUMER RIGHTS
US Fair Use, especially factor 4: the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Fair Dealing in Canada: covers: research, private study, criticism, and news reporting.
Other countries have more specific exemptions.
DIGITAL COPYING TECHNOLOGY
Today many rights holders view the basic technology of the internet as their enemy.
Analog sources provide no unambiguous clues about possible infringement.
A long as any digital work can be printed or played in analog form, it is liable to copying
The line between copying for private use and copying for world-wide use is dangerously permeable.
COPYRIGHT ENFORCEMENT
Copyright enforcement is a purely private matter within civil law.
Some rights holders’ organizations have taken on an active vigilante role.
Universities are working to increase copyright awareness among students and faculty
LEGAL SOLUTIONS
DMCA: “No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.” (17 USC 1201)
Dmitry Sklyarov was arrested in July 2001 for creating a program to circumvent protections on e-books.
Legal status for technological protections may do more harm than good to the cause of intellectual property rights protection.
COPY-PROTECTION SOLUTIONS
Video display systems (PAL, NTSC, SECAM)
Systems that allow files to open only if the DRM (Digital Rights Management) permissions are in order need to allow for fair use.
Watermarking options.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES
Social and economic consequences to excessive protection: Wright Brothers patents.
Value of sharing source code: Linux Bill before Congress to remove protection
from Federally funded research.
CONCLUSION
Widespread access to digital reformatting tools and internet access has changed the balance between publisher and consumer.
Whatever legislation is passed, and whatever technological protections are used, the management of intellectual property cannot eliminate reasonable exercise of consumer rights without risking widespread popular resistance and potential economic harm.
President of India’s request
:In this millennium when the rate of flow of new books/journals has increased substantially, there is a need to have a relook at the lock-in period of copyright documents.
Committee Recommendations
Duration reductionOnline Registry and ClearanceCopyleft ProvisionCompulsory licenseMoral RightsTranslationsDepository Requirement
Contact Information
Dr. Michael Seadle
Assistant Director for Systems and Digital Services & Copyright Librarian
Michigan State University Libraries
East Lansing, Michigan USA 48824
