HISTORY OF COPYRIGHT
The first copyright law was invented in response to then new technology of book-printing to provide both book authors and publishers with the right to make copies and distribute their works (Copy Rights and Wrongs, 2012).
The developments of communication channels and technological improvements lead to the growth in the number of low-quality falsified copies all over the world. Therefore, the next step in copyright law history was the Berne Convention that set out a framework for international copyright in 1886 (WIPO, 2016).
The developments of the Berne Convention led to the establishment of The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in 1967.
October 28, 1998 was the day of signing The Digital Millenium Copyright Act that 'criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works' (Wesleyan University, 2016).
-
70 YEARS+
35 countries in the world that have a term of life plus 70 years
-
PIRACY
70% online users find nothing wrong in online piracy
-
Complex rules
73% of UK Users are never quite sure what is legal and illegal under copyright law
-
EXCEPTIONS IN EUROPE
A 2010 study found that industries relying on exceptions represent Euro 1.1 trillion, or 9.3 percent of the EU’s GDP.
COPYRIGHT ALTERNATIVES
Creative Commons
Copyleft
Open Source
Piracy
PEOPLE SAY ABOUT COPYRIGHT
COPYRIGHT DEBATES
Commodificaton of digital commons
‘The commons refers to natural and cultural resources that are shared by a community of commoners’ (Wittel, 2013). With the beginning of digital era, commons have revived in the form of digital ones presented by ‘the results of social production necessary for social interaction and further production, such as knowledges, languages, codes, information, affects, and[…]
How Brexit will influence the UK copyright law?
Brexit has caused excitement not only in the hearts of population but also became the reason for the lively discussions of the UK IP perspectives. However, there are still no clear forecasts about the effect of this event on both UK law and the professional lives of rightholders, practitioners, academics, and artists. Brexit – (Prowle,[…]
Google and Copyright Issues
On April 18, 2016 the US Supreme Court declined an appeal from the Authors Guild that accused Google of copyright infringement for scanning their books (Kravets, 2016). Despite the decision of the US top court was made in favour of Google, there are still acute debates about its correctness and the correct interpretation of ‘fair[…]
New ways to stop digital piracy without annoying paying customers
There is nothing to do with piracy. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to fight with this phenomenon by calling infringers for the law-abiding, companies have turned to Digital Right Management (DRM) that slightly ‘slow pirates and annoys paying customers’ (Bellamy, 2012). Taking into account that DRM doesn’t work, it also significantly limits turns any technology into[…]
Should Copyright law change in the digital age?
Taking into account that the last major change to copyright legislation took place in 1980s – the era of the Betamax and personal cassette recorder – and now almost all the data is created and stored in a digital form, copyright definitely needs modernisation (White, 2012). Most of the copyright laws are considered to be[…]
Participatory culture and Copyright. How can they get along?
It can be said without a doubt that currently the boundary between a digital media consumer and producer is gradually vanishing. Due to the development of Web 2.0 and the increasing accessibility of advanced technologies like mobile phones, digital cameras, WYSIWYG editors more and more people are leaving the position of a passive spectator and becoming digital authors. […]