Digital Sustainability in the Knowledge Society Fundamentals of Copyright Dr. Marcus M. Dapp Board OKF Germany / IT Strategist, City Government Munich 10.10.2011
Digital Sustainabilityin the Knowledge Society
Fundamentals of Copyright
Dr. Marcus M. DappBoard OKF Germany / IT Strategist, City Government Munich
10.10.2011
What is a »license«?
Copyright in the analog world
By takomabibelot (flickr, CC-BY)
Analog world
• Physical limitations of copying• Significant cost• Quality loss
• Concept of »original« makes sense• Original stands out• Quality difference, original ≠ copies• Originals are a finite resource
Basic concept of Copyright
• Concerns original form/expression of literary and artistic works
• Right to commercially exploit creation• »right to copy«• Today: bundle of rights
• Granted automatically• Free of charge
IdeaConcept
FormExpression
WP(en): Copyright
© Related / Neighbouring rights
• All rights reserved• Moral rights
(no misuse)
• Database rights• Renting rights• Performer's rights
© Derivative works
• Cocreators have »veto« rights• Increase license costs;
»Tragedy of the Anticommons«
• Sharing rights• Who should own them? 1st, 2nd generation?
• too broad rights hinder diffusion of works, too narrow rights discourage creation
• What if stuff is created cumulatively?
© Exceptions and Fair Use
• Suboptimal if transaction costs prevent transactions, e.g.
• Works with very low monetary value• Many different owners share rights
• Fair use doctrine• Use without explicit permission, e.g. for
education, criticism, commentary, parody
Copyright in the digital world By oskay (flickr, CC-BY)
Digital world
• No physical limitations for copying• No quality loss• Marginal costs close to zero
• Concept of »original« senseless?• All copies identical (incl. the first)• Infinite number of copies
• Only obstacle to copying• Transaction costs of identifying and
contacting recipients
Digital copyright in disbalance ?
• In favor of public• Easy online distribution• Difficult to prevent technically
• In favor of creator• Extend © to new rights• Extend © duration
Rebalancing copyright in favor of creator
• Legal• EU European Copyright Directive
• RAM copies ≠ © copies• U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act
• anticircumvention law• Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act
• prolonged US © from 50 to 70 years• Technical
• Digital Rights Management
Rebalancing copyright in favor of public
• CreativeCommons movement• Family of © licenses for digital stuff
• »Some rights reserved«• Modification?• Commercial use?• »sharealike« = copyleft mechanism?
• easytouse license templates• Reduce transaction costs• »skip the intermediaries«
License your group work!
(Recommended ticks.)
http://www.creativecommons.org
Copyright theories
• Utility (R. Posner)• Maximize net social welfare• Balance incentive vs. access
• Labor (J. Locke)• You worked on it, it is yours to control
• Personality (Kant, Hegel)• Human needs, self expression, honor, ...
• Social Planning Theory (W. Fisher)• More than social welfare, justice