Digital Copyright

I completed the original manuscript of Digital Copyright in 2000, two years after Congress enacted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The 1976 Copyright Act was itself 24 years old, and beginning to show its age. The Internet, in contrast, was still new and shiny and scary, especially for legacy entertainment and information businesses and the copyright lawyers who represented them.Seventeen years later, the Internet has become an essential feature of all of our lives and the copyright laws designed to tame it seem elderly and barnacle-encrusted. Remarkably, the legislative process that has made sensible copyright law reform all but impossible has stayed largely unchanged. Congress and the Copyright Office have recently launched what is billed as a comprehensive reexamination of copyright law with the goal of overhauling the law for the 21st century. It seems likely that these efforts will hew to the patterns of earlier copyright revision. Perhaps we stick with the tried and true approach to making copyright laws, even though it results in bad laws, because the process works so well for so many of the participants. Members of Congress can rely on affected industries to come up with broadly acceptable compromises, and to take on much of the burden of pressuring other interested groups to swallow them. Meanwhile, Senators and Representatives can continue to collect generous campaign contributions. The Copyright Office can be the center of attention as it plays a crucial role in managing the multilateral negotiations and interpreting their results to Congress. Copyright lobbyists and trade organizations can collect hefty fees from their members, in return for supplying them with laws that will give them competitive advantages against the next new thing, whatever it is. Because the laws that emerge from this process don't work very well, meanwhile, everyone can look forward to another round.Although the book is ancient in Internet time, people seem to have continued to read it. Now that it has finally gone out of print, I'm delighted to be able to make it more freely available under a Creative Commons license. In addition to the Afterword that I wrote for the 2006 paperback edition, I have included a postscript looking back briefly on what, if anything, we might have learned from the aftermath of the stories told in this book.Postscript is available at: 'https://ssrn.com/abstract=2968546' https://ssrn.com/abstract=2968546.

A very helpful and accessible collection of contemporary issues in digital copyright law. . . Rimmer s book is quite possibly the most enjoyable and easy to read guide to selected issues of digital copyright law on the market today. . . Its core strength is undoubtedly its accessibility it is a pleasure to read. Martin Arthur Kuppers, Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice Matthew Rimmer s book provides much needed insight into the current status of digital copyright and its relationship to the general purchasing public. . . This book, which has a structure that flows with concinnity and concision, makes it easy to navigate some of the most complicated and controversial issues. Lisa Wong, Osgoode Hall Law Journal This engaging account of US copyright law (and copyright wars) is thorough and informative. Following a comprehensive and compelling introduction, encompassing a literature review and outline of the methodology and arguments to be adopted. . . His deep understanding of the subject matter, as well as his profound empathy with consumers, are evident throughout the work; the book will, no doubt, foster a similar interest in another generation of copyright law scholars. Louise Buckingham, Copyright Reporter Digital Copyright and the Consumer Revolution is a very important and timely book. . . and is a crucial vade mecum on the ever evolving global maze of case law and copyright reform . Colin Steele, Australian Library Journal It will most definitely prove to be an indispensable tool for researchers concerned with recent legal developments in the copyright field, both in America and Australia. Rimmer s Hands Off My iPod is a comprehensive and detailed analysis of current problems facing copyright holders as the struggle (and often fumble) to find a balance between profiting off their property and keeping the newly-powerful, increasingly agile user happy. Adam Sulewski, Journal of High Technology Law Rimmer brings the tension between law and technology to life in this important and accessible work. Digital Copyright and the Consumer Revolution helps make sense of the global maze of caselaw and copyright reform that extend from San Francisco to Sydney. The book provides a terrific guide to the world s thorniest digital legal issues as Rimmer demonstrates how the consumer interest is frequently lost in the crossfire. Michael A. Geist, the Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-Commerce Law, the University of Ottawa, Canada This book documents and evaluates the growing consumer revolution against digital copyright law, and makes a unique theoretical contribution to the debate surrounding this issue. With a focus on recent US copyright law, the book charts the consumer rebellion against the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act 1998 (US) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998 (US). The author explores the significance of key judicial rulings and considers legal controversies over new technologies, such as the iPod, TiVo, Sony Playstation II, Google Book Search, and peer-to-peer networks. The book also highlights cultural developments, such as the emergence of digital sampling and mash-ups, the construction of the BBC Creative Archive, and the evolution of the Creative Commons. Digital Copyright and the Consumer Revolution will be of prime interest to academics, law students and lawyers interested in the ramifications of copyright law, as well as policymakers given its focus upon recent legislative developments and reform proposals. The book will also appeal to librarians, information managers, creative artists, consumers, technology developers, and other users of copyright material.

This book presents a thorough exploration of the legal framework of EU digital copyright law from the perspective of the end-user. It provides a detailed examination of the implications that the spectacular rise of this new actor creates for the interplay between the EU copyright system and human rights law, competition law and other important policies contained in the EC Treaty. This comprehensive, book is crucial reading for lawyers, policymakers and academics.

The first edition of this book in 2002 was the first UK text to examine digital copyright together with related areas such as performers' rights, moral rights, database rights and competition law as a subject in its own right. Now in its fifth edition, the book has been substantially updated and revised to take account of legal and policy developments in copyright law and related areas, the new UK copyright exceptions, recent CJEU cases, the regulation of Collective Management Organisations, orphan works, and developments in EU copyright legislation and the EU's Digital Single Market Strategy. It also contains new sections on big data and data mining, the impact of artificial intelligence and blockchain on copyright, and the future for UK copyright after Brexit. The book helps put digital copyright law and policy into perspective and provides practical guidance for those creating or exploiting digital content or technology, whether in academia, the software, information, publishing and creative industries, or other areas of the economy. The focus of Digital Copyright is on the specifics of the law in this area together with practical aspects. Both academics and practitioners will find the book an invaluable guide to this ever-expanding field of law. Review of Previous Edition: 'Overall, Digital Copyright is well worth the relatively modest price for a book that will be stimulating for anyone who has to think about copyright in the digital realm.' Francis Davey, Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice

This executive summary reveals the key findings from the WIPO-MCST survey on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms to resolve business-to-business (B2B) disputes related to digital copyright and digital content.

In this book, Benjamin Farrand employs an interdisciplinary approach that combines legal analysis with political theory to explore the development of copyright law in the EU. Farrand utilises Foucault’s concept of Networks of Power and Culpepper’s Quiet Politics to assess the adoption and enforcement of copyright law in the EU, including the role of industry representative, cross-border licensing, and judicial approaches to territorial restrictions. Focusing in particular on legislative initiatives concerning copyright, digital music and the internet, Networks of Power in Digital Copyright Law and Policy: Political Salience, Expertise and the Legislative Process demonstrates the connection between copyright law and complex network relationships. This book presents an original socio-political theoretical framework for assessing developments in copyright law that will interest researchers and post-graduate students of law and politics, as well as those more particularly concerned with political theory, EU and copyright law.

This book focuses on the thorny and highly topical issue of balancing copyright in the digital age. The idea for it sprang from the often heated debates among intellectual property scholars on the possibilities and the limits of copyright. Copyright law has been broadening its scope for decades now, and as a result it often clashes with other rights (frequently, fundamental rights), raising the question of which right prevails. The papers represent the product of intensive research by experts, who employ rigorous interpretative methodologies while keeping an eye on comparison and on the impacts of new technologies on law. The contributions concentrate on the "propertization" of copyright; on the principle of exhaustion of the distribution right; on the conflict between users' privacy and personal data needs; and on the balance between copyright and academic freedom. Starting from the difficulties inherently connected to the difficult task of balancing rights that respond to opposing interests, each essay analyzes techniques and arguments applied by institutional decision-makers in trying to solve this dilemma. Each author applies a specific methodology involving legal comparison, while taking into account the European framework for copyright and related rights. This work represents a unique piece of scholarship, in which a single issue is read through different lenses, demonstrating the need to reconcile copyright with other fundamental areas of law.