Copyright in the blockchain era: Promises and challenges

The paper focuses on various legal-related aspects of the application of blockchain technologies in the copyright sphere. Specifically, it outlines the existing challenges for distribution of copyrighted works in the digital environment, how they can be solved with blockchain, and what associated issues need to be addressed in this regard. It is argued that blockchain can introduce long-awaited transparency in matters of copyright ownership chain; substantially mitigate risks of online piracy by enabling control over digital copy and creating a civilized market for “used” digital content. It also allows to combine the simplicity of application of creative commons/open source type of licenses with revenue streams, and thus facilitate fair compensation of authors by means of cryptocurrency payments and Smart contracts. However, these benefits do not come without a price: many new issues will need to be resolved to enable the potential of blockchain technologies. Among them are: where to store copyrighted content (on blockchain or “off-chain”) and the associated need to adjust the legal status of online intermediaries; how to find a right balance between immutable nature of blockchain records and the necessity to adjust them due to the very nature of copyright law, which assigns ownership based on a set of informal facts, not visible to the public. Blockchain as a kind of time stamping service cannot itself ensure the trustworthiness of facts, which originate “off-chain”. More work needs to be done on the legal side: special provisions aimed at facilitating user's trust in blockchain records and their good faith usage of copyrighted works based on them need to be introduced and transactions with cryptocurrencies have to be legalized as well as the status of Smart contracts and their legal consequences. Finally, the economics of blockchain copyright management systems need to be carefully considered in order to ensure that they will have necessary network effects. If those issues are resolved in a satisfactory way, blockchain has the potential to rewrite how the copyright industry functions and digital content is distributed.     

Copyright as Talisman: Expanding 'Property' in Digital Works

Digital technology facilitates the distribution and use of computer programs, graphical works, sound recordings, audio-visual works, and database products. This creates new commercial market opportunities, but ones compromised by the great ease and low cost of making and even disseminating unauthorized exact copies. Copyright generally makes such conduct unlawful, yet monitoring and enforcement costs severely limit the utility of direct enforcement. Content producers therefore seek adjunctive protection through laws regulating circumvention of producers' technological safeguards and enforcing contract restrictions on copy use and transfer. They also promote enactment of strong criminal penalties for copyright infringement and violation of new digital work protection laws. This increasingly has made copyright less the object of protection than a talisman in promoting and framing new protections that accord digital works substantially greater 'property-like' stature and legal protection than that created by copyright.     

数字音乐版权区块链技术保护的相关法律问题研究

在当今数字版权时代,区块链技术因具有去中心化、防篡改、数据可靠等特点,在很大程度上能够解决数字音乐版权的确权难、收益难、维权难的问题。但是,它面临诸如无法鉴别数字音乐作品独创性、版权证明效力有限、有关监管体制不健全等法律适用难题。本文通过深入分析探讨这些现存问题,对比借鉴国外的相关先进做法,从技术工具和法律政策两方面提出了数字音乐版权区块链保护的具体措施,以期望促进我国数字音乐版权保护的发展,加快建设法治中国的新征程。     

Combatting peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted material via anti-piracy laws: Issues,trends, and solutions

This article analyses potential end-user copyright violations associated with peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing and the anti-piracy efforts currently underway in order to tackle them. This article discusses international developments in terms of trends, issues and solutions aimed at addressing peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted material. First, the article introduces P2P file sharing, its increasing significance in the growing digital media economy, and the legal issues surrounding this topic. Next, the article provides a comparative analysis of global efforts and trends in preventing digital piracy by analyzing relevant legislation, case law and practices in multiple jurisdictions, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, and Japan. In addition, the article reviews Hong Kong's current case law and proposed legal reforms including an analysis of their deficiencies with respect to addressing P2P copyright infringement. The article concludes with an analysis of existing trends in preventive measures against copyright infringement through P2P file sharing and suggests directions on future legal and non-legal measures that Hong Kong as well as the international community can take in combating digital piracy and copyright infringement through peer-to-peer file sharing.     

Part II of David Bainbridge's study of the copyright (computer software) amendment act 1985

The considerable amount of piracy of computer programs which has taken place recently has shaken the software industry's confidence in legal methods of protecting their products. If nothing more, the new Act should restore some of this confidence, but the industry must be prepared to take the legal measures now available. The stronger criminal sanctions provided for by section 3 of the Act emphasise the criminality of software piracy and it is hoped that the police will also begin to take software theft seriously. But there are some grey areas in copyright law as amended by the new Act; the precise scope of ‘material form’ and ‘adaptation’ are unclear - will the making of a duplicate of a program stored on magnetic cassette tape infringe copyright? A wide definition of ‘material form’ could have put protection beyond doubt whilst allowing for future developments in computer storage media. The new Act is seen as an interim measure pending a comprehensive review of copyright law (per Lord) Lucas of Chilworth, Hansard House of Lords, 10 May 1985 p. 873; he said that the Government hoped to bring forward a comprehensive Copyright Bill no later than the 1986/7 session). Furthermore, the whole area of computer storage of more traditional works of copyright such as literary and musical works, is not specifically mentioned in the new Act. Other questions such as the ownership of works including computer programs produced by or with the aid of a programmed grammed computer (first identified as being a likely problem as early as 1977 by the Whitford Committee) are not dealt with all by the Act. Lord Macmilland of Ovenden recently called for new legislation to deal with the copyright problems caused by new technology (The Times 18th September 1985 p.3), and it is hoped that full consideration will be given to the effect of computers on all forms of intellectual property when copyright law is rationalised and re-codified.     

数字网络环境中著作权实现的困境与出路——基于P2P技术背景下美国音乐产业的实证分析

数字网络技术给著作权的保护带来了巨大的挑战。技术保护措施、侵权诉讼以及逐级响应机制等既有网络著作权保护方式已陷入困境。网络著作权与传统财产权、著作权的差异、新技术发展的不可预测性以及来自盗版的竞争,要求网络环境下必须采取以授权为中心的整体性著作权实现机制。随着云技术、大数据以及3D打印技术等新兴技术的发展,整体性著作权实现机制在网络环境中将发挥越来越重要的作用。     

论“接触权”——著作财产权类型化的不足与克服

随着技术保护措施成为网络时代著作权法不可或缺的组成部分，“接触权”从公众接触政府信息的人权变成为了著作权人控制利用人接触作品的“私权”。当对作品的主要利用方式从占有载体转为直接体验内容后，著作权人是否享有控制他人接触作品内容的能力就显得相当重要，“接触权”突破了建构于18、19世纪的传统著作财产权体系，其正当性源自对网络环境下作品利用模式的适应，是应对科技发展所做出的合理设计。     

Governing ghostbots

This article discusses the legal implications of a novel phenomenon, namely, digital reincarnations of deceased persons, sometimes known as post-mortem avatars, deepfakes, replicas, holographs, or chatbots. To elide these multiple names, we use the term 'ghostbots'. The piece is an early attempt to discuss the potential social and individual harms, roughly grouped around notions of privacy (including post-mortem privacy), property, personal data and reputation, arising from ghostbots, how they are regulated and whether they need to be adequately regulated further. For reasons of space and focus, the article does not deal with copyright implications, fraud, consumer protection, tort, product liability, and pornography laws, including the non-consensual use of intimate images (‘revenge porn’). This paper focuses on law, although we fully acknowledge and refer to the role of philosophy and ethics in this domain.We canvas two interesting legal developments with implications for ghostbots, namely, the proposed EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act and the 2021 New York law amending publicity rights to protect the rights of celebrities whose personality is used in post-mortem ‘replicas’. The latter especially evidences a remarkable shift from the norm we have chronicled in previous articles of no respect for post-mortem privacy to a growing recognition that personality rights do need protection post-mortem in a world where pop stars and actors are routinely re-created using AI. While the legislative motivation here may still be primarily to protect economic interests, we argue it also shows a concern for dignitary and privacy interests.Given the apparent concern for the appropriation of personality post-mortem, possibly in defiance or ignorance of what the deceased would have wished, we propose an early solution to regulate the rise of ghostbots, namely an enforceable ‘do not bot me’ clause in analogue or digital wills.     

Software-as-a-service – Legal nature: Shifting the existing paradigm of copyright law

Today's business environment is no longer defined exclusively by bricks and mortar. Business models of software distribution are constantly evolving as new technologies develop. Traditional retail versions of software products are mostly replaced with digital distribution of copies of software products. However, these ways of software distribution are by no means exhaustive. Functionality of software is not necessarily tied with provision of the copy of the relevant program to the user. Instead he can receive access to it via the Internet without the need to install software onto his computer. This type of business model received the name “Software-as-a-Service” (SaaS) or, sometimes “Cloud Computing”. The legal nature of relations arising between the user and provider of distant access to such software is subject to considerable debate in Russia. The main problem is that at first glance it resembles the features of various types of contracts, recognized in the Civil Code of Russia, although not falling completely within any of them. At the same time the type of agreement chosen by the parties defines the legal framework, which governs relevant relations and relevant tax consequences. This article aims to analyze the nature of existing relations between the user and SaaS-provider and to define whether it can be characterized as a license, service, lease or some kind of sui generis contract. Based on the analysis the author comes to a conclusion that as delivery of copies of software becomes less and less relevant for the software industry, due to the new business models implemented by vendors, the rights to use the particular copy of software around which the traditional copyright regime has been built, become more and more superseded with the right to access such software. Thus traditional contractual models developed for IP distribution (license agreements, assignment agreements) and, more generally, the legal framework of existing copyright law that is centered on the core idea of the “use” of the copy, are no longer adequate regulators in the digital era where remote access to objects of copyright will soon start to dominate.     

由一起官司看网络环境下数字作品的著作权保护问题

信息技术的飞速发展,使得网络环境下的数字作品创作和传播方式相对于传统方式发生巨大变化,与之俱来的是数字作品的著作权保护问题形成了对传统著作权的巨大挑战。从一起相关案件入手,分析了产生数字作品著作权问题的原因,并提出网络环境下的数字著作权保护问题应从法律及信息技术两方面寻求解决的出路。     

Pricing privacy – the right to know the value of your personal data

The commodification of digital identities is an emerging reality in the data-driven economy. Personal data of individuals represent monetary value in the data-driven economy and are often considered a counter performance for “free” digital services or for discounts for online products and services. Furthermore, customer data and profiling algorithms are already considered a business asset and protected through trade secrets. At the same time, individuals do not seem to be fully aware of the monetary value of their personal data and tend to underestimate their economic power within the data-driven economy and to passively succumb to the propertization of their digital identity. An effort that can increase awareness of consumers/users on their own personal information could be making them aware of the monetary value of their personal data. In other words, if individuals are shown the “price” of their personal data, they can acquire higher awareness about their power in the digital market and thus be effectively empowered for the protection of their information privacy. This paper analyzes whether consumers/users should have a right to know the value of their personal data. After analyzing how EU legislation is already developing in the direction of propertization and monetization of personal data, different models for quantifying the value of personal data are investigated. These models are discussed, not to determine the actual prices of personal data, but to show that the monetary value of personal data can be quantified, a conditio-sine-qua-non for the right to know the value of your personal data. Next, active choice models, in which users are offered the option to pay for online services, either with their personal data or with money, are discussed. It is concluded, however, that these models are incompatible with EU data protection law. Finally, practical, moral and cognitive problems of pricing privacy are discussed as an introduction to further research. We conclude that such research is needed to see to which extent these problems can be solved or mitigated. Only then, it can be determined whether the benefits of introducing a right to know the value of your personal data outweigh the problems and hurdles related to it.     

网络化社会的戏仿与公平竞争——关于著作权制度设计的比较分析

本文关于戏仿与著作权的讨论,侧重于数码网络化对法律秩序的深刻影响以及各种创新型制度设计。作者认为,对所谓公平使用原则的考量,必须以严格区分美国模式和欧洲模式为前提;中国现行著作权法极其强调对作者人格的保护,固然有其必然性和合理性,但也很可能在不同程度上阻碍信息流通以及文化产业的发展。因此也可以说,“馒头血案”与《无极》的碰撞,其实提出了一些涉及法与社会转型的根本问题:怎样才能避免通讯技术引起著作权的解体或贬值?人际互动与大批量的契约群以及民主决定的法律程序要件之间的关系究竟应该如何重构?解答这些问题的关键是对权利处理的不同方式进行比较。     

Technological Protections in Copyright Law: Is More Legal Protection Needed?

Providing legal protection against the 'hacking' of technological locks used to protect copyrighted works recently has been the subject of an international treaty (the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty), a European Community Directive (the Information Society Directive) and major copyright legislation in the USA (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act). By making hacking illegal, these legal protections fortify the technological protections employed by copyright owners to reduce infringement of their works. While copyright owners may use technological protections to compensate for the increased infringement potential in a digital world, technological protections can also be used to obtain far greater protection than the law would otherwise grant the copyright owner. In this article, Professor Loren argues that attention needs to be shifted from providing legal protection for technological protections, to providing legal protections against the overzealous use of these technological protections by content providers. She argues that laws should be enacted, and perhaps even treaties should be signed, that would prohibit the use of technological protections to impermissibly invade certain use rights recognized by a country's copyright laws.     

Location privacy: The challenges of mobile service devices

Adding to the current debate, this article focuses on the personal data and privacy challenges posed by private industry's use of smart mobile devices that provide location-based services to users and consumers. Directly relevant to personal data protection are valid concerns about the collection, retention, use and accessibility of this kind of personal data, in relation to which a key issue is whether valid consent is ever obtained from users. While it is indisputable that geo-location technologies serve important functions, their potential use for surveillance and invasion of privacy should not be overlooked. Thus, in this study we address the question of how a legal regime can ensure the proper functionality of geo-location technologies while preventing their misuse. In doing so, we examine whether information gathered from geo-location technologies is a form of personal data, how it is related to privacy and whether current legal protection mechanisms are adequate. We argue that geo-location data are indeed a type of personal data. Not only is this kind of data related to an identified or identifiable person, it can reveal also core biographical personal data. What is needed is the strengthening of the existing law that protects personal data (including location data), and a flexible legal response that can incorporate the ever-evolving and unknown advances in technology.     

我国著作权法律制度面临的困惑——写在著作权法修订之际

我国著作权法第三次修订工作已经启动.如何寻找修订的突破口,如何确定修订的基本思路,是这项工作的首要任务.拟从制度设计的视角,全面检讨我国著作权法律制度,分析在立法权限、法律体系一致性、传统环境与网络环境的适应等方面存在的主要问题,重点探讨数字技术、网络技术对著作权权利体系带来的挑战,技术措施的法律属性,信息网络传播权的实质内涵,以及国务院制定的配套法规的合法性等内容,为著作权法律制度的修订提出初步建议.     

The Google conundrum: Perpetrator or facilitator on the net? – Forging a fair copyright framework of rights, liability and responsibility in response to search engine 2.0 – Part I: The Google Images Search Engine

Is Google in its quest for search engine optimization through the creation of new technologies, which not only improves its search algorithms but also refines its search functions for users, doing it in a manner that makes it a perpetrator of primary copyright infringement or an invaluable facilitator for Internet functionality? How should the balance of interests in the treatment of creative works be recalibrated in the face of changes in search engine technology and operations, and the disputes that have arisen within the last decade in the context of the digital age and its needs? Using Google as a case study, this paper will look at the two main areas of dispute over the operations of information locator tools and services that either threatens search engine functionality and efficiency or weakens copyright holders’ exclusive rights. It proposes a concerted set of solutions through a reassessment and amendment of copyright law to optimize the social benefits and objectives of both the copyright regime and technological innovations in the electronic model of information archiving, indexing and delivery. A fair distribution of responsibilities and allocation of rights and liabilities will be suggested. In the process, due consideration will be given to both public and private interests, with the former taking precedence; while the recommended solutions will be made within the currently outdated framework for Internet intermediary protection (i.e. safe harbor laws) and exceptions (i.e. specific statutory exemptions and the general fair use defense) under the existing copyright regime. Thus, the proposed changes will be far reaching without being too radical a departure from current law, an evolution that will likely be more acceptable and realistic a solution to the problem.This paper is published in two parts. Part One of this paper will deal with the challenges to the copyright regime posed by the operations and technology behind the Google Images Search Engine, while Part Two that will be published in the subsequent edition of the CLSR will assess the benefits of the Google Books Search Project vis-à-vis the effects it will have on the scope of copyright protection. Recommendations are made to copyright law to accommodate both functions while generally preserving the main objectives of copyright protection.     

Tripartite perspective on the copyright-sharing economy in China

Internet and digital technologies have facilitated copyright sharing in an unprecedented way, creating significant tensions between the free flow of information and the exclusive nature of intellectual property. Copyright owners, users, and online platforms are the three major players in the copyright system. These stakeholders and their relations form the main structure of the copyright-sharing economy. Using China as an example, this paper provides a tripartite perspective on the copyright ecology based on three categories of sharing, namely unauthorized sharing, altruistic sharing, and freemium sharing. The line between copyright owners, users, and platforms has been blurred by rapidly changing technologies and market forces. By examining the strategies and practices of these parties, this paper illustrates the opportunities and challenges for China's copyright industry and digital economy. The paper concludes that under the shadow of the law, a sustainable copyright-sharing model must carefully align the interests of businesses and individual users.     

区块链技术下数字版权保护管理模式创新研究

区块链技术能够准确、及时、完整地记录数字版权产生、使用、交易、许可及转让等一系列过程,解决数字版权确权、交易问题,也为侵权行为的追踪提供支撑。因此,区块链技术的出现,为当前数字版权管理提供了新的选择:构建了分布式账本区块链技术登记确权共信机制、智能合约区块链技术的数字版权交易履行机制、时间戳区块链技术版权电子证据存证溯源机制、智能合约区块链技术数字版权监管机制等四大机制,探索出版权确权、交易和维权一体化的版权管理模式创新路径,并从法律、技术、标准等角度建立统一的数字版权保护管理创新模式。     

少数民族传统文化版权法保护意义探究

不同的实体法在调整社会关系中具有不同的功能或不同的调整方法,相互间具有不可替代性,因而我国在强调各少数民族的民间文学艺术作品享有文物保护法、民族民间文化保护法等基本法律法规保护的同时,不应忽略或排斥对其进行版权法的保护,应尽快加强对少数民族的民间文学艺术作品的版权保护的行政法规、地方性法规、民族自治地方的相关单行条例的制定工作,完善相关的版权法保护机制,以实现对少数民族民间文学艺术作品的全方位法律保护.     

The Google conundrum: Perpetrator or facilitator on the net? - Forging a fair copyright framework of rights, liability and responsibility in response to search engine 2.0 - Part II: The Google Books Search Project

Is Google in its quest for search engine optimization through the creation of new technologies, which not only improves its search algorithms but also refines its search functions for users, doing it in a manner that makes it a perpetrator of primary copyright infringement or an invaluable facilitator for Internet functionality? How should the balance of interests in the treatment of creative works be recalibrated in the face of changes in search engine technology and operations, and the disputes that have arisen within the last decade in the context of the digital age and its needs? Using Google as a case study, this paper will look at the two main areas of dispute over the operations of information locator tools and services that either threatens search engine functionality and efficiency or weakens copyright holders’ exclusive rights. It proposes a concerted set of solutions through a reassessment and amendment of copyright law to optimize the social benefits and objectives of both the copyright regime and technological innovations in the electronic model of information archiving, indexing and delivery. A fair distribution of responsibilities and allocation of rights and liabilities will be suggested. In the process, due consideration will be given to both public and private interests, with the former taking precedence; while the recommended solutions will be made within the currently outdated framework for Internet intermediary protection (i.e. safe harbor laws) and exceptions (i.e. specific statutory exemptions and the general fair use defense) under the existing copyright regime. Thus, the proposed changes will be far reaching without being too radical a departure from current law, an evolution that will likely be more acceptable and realistic a solution to the problem.This paper is published in two parts. Part One of this paper published in the previous edition of the CLSR at [2011] 27 CLSR 110-131 dealt with the challenges to the copyright regime posed by the operations and technology behind the Google Images Search Engine, while Part Two will assess the benefits of the Google Books Search Project vis-à-vis the effects it will have on the scope of copyright protection. Recommendations are made to copyright law to accommodate both functions while generally preserving the main objectives of copyright protection.