Impact of Digital Technologies on Copyright Law

In the modern world, the number of technological developments is constantly increasing. Although Digital Technology tools have dominated our lives since the beginning of the millennium year, their impacts on copyrights are argued more nowadays when compared to the past due to the new improvements.

Meaning of Digital Technology

Digital technologies can be defined as electronic tools, systems, devices, and resources that are used for producing, storing, or processing data. Several types of digital technology are known and utilized widely such as social media, online games, multimedia, and mobile phones.

Meaning of Copyright

According to the definition placed on World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) website, “Copyright is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps, and technical drawings.”

When it comes to the registration issue if the Berne Convention applies in countries, copyright exists automatically. Additionally, there is no need to be had official registration from any government office. On the other hand, even though registration is not an obligation to utilize the copyright, there are jurisdictions where the laws contain rules for registration. This registry offers prima facie evidence of licit copyright and makes it possible to claim legitimate damages and attorney's fees for the copyright holder.

Effects of Digital Technology on Copyrights - Benefits and Harms

Digital Technology has become a useful and fast method to generate, copy, replicate, and distribute works over the years. First of all, it enables raising the popularity of the work by making sharing them more convenient on media, furthermore, it helps other people to reach pieces without paying too much effort. Despite the fact that digital technology contributes to the production of work, it also causes the augment of piracy and infringement of intellectual rights. Works that have been converted to digital spread to the digital world at an incredible speed without the permission of the owner. Moreover, it makes it more arduous to protect privacy, and as a result of it, the possibilities of finding and proving the infringement are significantly reduced.

There are several benefits of Digital Technology such as ease of reproduction, dissemination, and storage. After work is converted into digital form, it can be reproduced quickly and affordably, without loss of quality. Also, each copy can be reproduced without loss of quality too. As a result, a sole copy of a work in digital form can meet the requirement of potentially millions of users. In addition, the evolution of global digital networks facilitates the rapid dissemination of works in digital form throughout the world. As with publishing, digital networks allow for dissemination from a location to several people (Even though, contrary to publishing, digitized materials do not necessarily reach individuals at the same time). Nevertheless, digital networks enable each recipient in the network to be involved in further dissemination of the work, which may lead to the work spreading at a geometric rate of ascending. When combined with the ease with which works can be reproduced, this means that a sole digital copy of a work can be reproduced thousands of times around the world in a few hours. Last but not the least, growing amounts of material can be stored in a much smaller space as digital storage is widespread and becoming more so with each passing year.

When it comes to the harms, new technological innovations have brought many challenges to copyright law, as copyright infringement has evolved in the printed media industry, which is particularly useful for imaginative works, artistic creations, drawings, models, photography, and film industry. Since the emergence of the Internet, recorders, and photocopiers can conveniently provide digital data, leading to the ability to manipulate works. While digitalization has played an important role in changing elements of society, it has also given rise to many different problems in the developed world, such as the violation of a producer's or author's privileges (in the copyright environment) through different methods. In this context, the question of providing legal protection to works produced directly in the digital environment such as YouTube videos or game programs also arises.

Legal Aspect

As a result of the realization of the impact of digital technologies on copyrights, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)  took action and in 1996 the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), known as the "twin internet treaties", came into force. The United States of America (USA) adapted copyright to the new situation with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998. The European Union has enacted many treaties, even on copyright alone such as The Computer Directive (1991), the Database Directive (1996), and the Information Society Directive (2001). In an effort to create a Digital Single Market, the EU adopted the Lisbon Strategy in 2000 as well as the Digital Single Market Strategy Paper in 2015. After a while, it adopted the 2020 European Strategy. Also in 2020, the EU Commission prepared the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) packages. As part of the Digital Single Market Strategy, the EU Commission prepared and made public a package to modernize copyright in 2016. The Digital Single Market Copyright (DSM) Directive (DSM Directive 2019/790/EU) entered into force on 7.6.2019.

In Turkey,  it can be said that it is almost impossible to implement digital transformation due to the regulations in Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works. This is because of our law system as written permission must be obtained individually from the owners or heirs of the intellectual products (works) to be subject to digital conversion. If this is not done, for example, digitizing a book or similar material violates the "right of reproduction", and putting the digitized content on the internet violates the "right of communication to the public". As a result of such an act of infringement, sanctions under the  Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works will be imposed. On the other hand, putting music, videos, books, articles, articles, paintings, cartoons, photographs, and similar works or related rights subject to copyright on the internet or sharing them digitally also requires written permission. For instance, the representation of works in distance education programs such as Zoom in our country is a violation of copyright since there is an exception for face-to-face education and training, but not for distance education and training according to article 33 of the  Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works.

Example Cases Related to the Topic

KazaA Case: This is a lawsuit filed by Buma/Stemra, the Dutch Music Works Association, against KazaA, a website that allows file sharing on the Internet, on the grounds that the "peer to peer" program infringes intellectual rights. In the lawsuit, KazaA compared the file-sharing software to the video recorders of the 1980s, arguing that the KazaA software has many uses, that the software cannot interfere with file sharing, that it has no control over the data exchange on its site and therefore cannot be held liable. The court of first instance ruled that KazaA was liable for the infringement of intellectual property rights and therefore had to take the necessary measures to put an end to the infringement, but when KazaA failed to take these measures, the court sentenced KazaA to pay damages. However, the judgment was appealed by the company before the Court of Appeal and the Court; The Court rejected KazaA's liability on the grounds that the KazaA file-sharing system is open to sharing all kinds of data as well as protected musical works, that the operation of the KazaA system does not depend on KazaA itself, that the cessation of KazaA's activities would not reduce infringements, but on the contrary would complicate the detection of infringements, and that the infringements of intellectual property rights were committed by KazaA's users. On the other hand, in a lawsuit filed against KazaA in Australia by music companies on the grounds of infringement of the rights of copyright holders, the court found KazaA liable, considering it no different from a giant piracy machine.

Grokster Case: In the United States, MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios), which holds the financial rights to certain films and musical works, filed lawsuits against Grokster, the inventor and distributor of software enabling the interchange of these works between users. The lower courts and the 9th Court of Appeal held that, because the defendant companies' software was "capable of a substantial unlawful use", the defendant companies that distributed the software to users were not liable for their behavior, which amounted to mere distribution. The case was then brought before the US Supreme Court. On June 27, 2005, the Supreme Court issued the most comprehensive decision on digital file sharing on the Internet in the world. According to this decision, the defendants can be held liable for users' intellectual property infringements. On November 5, 2005, the parties reached a settlement. Grokster will cease its activities and compensate for the damages caused by the infringements. It is important to underline the note on Grokster's website that "Unauthorized P2P use of copyrighted musical and cinematographic works is illegal and unauthorized use will be sued by the rights holders."

Conclusion

As can be seen in the light of the above explanations, digital technology provides convenience in all areas of life and also provides various conveniences in matters falling within the scope of copyright. However, in addition to these conveniences, the difficulties it causes should not be ignored. Especially within the scope of Turkish Law, new regulations should be made to facilitate digital transformation and to reach the speed of digital.

Bibliography

• “Copyright”, WIPO. Available at: https://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/ (Accessed on March 20, 2023)
• “Copyright”, Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright (Accessed on March 20, 2023)
• Shettar, Iranna “Copyright Issues in Digital Media” Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Iranna-Shettar-2/publication/343787597_Copyright_Issues_in_Digital_Media/links/5f472b4e458515a88b6fece0/Copyright-Issues-in-Digital-Media.pdf (Accessed on March 20, 2023)   ●      Suluk, Cahit “Dijital Telif Hakları” Available at:  https://fikrimulkiyet.com/dijital-telif-haklari (Accessed on March 24, 2023)
• Ertaş, Selehattin "Gelişen Teknoloji Işığında Telif Hakları, Yaşanan sorunlar ve Çözüm Önerileri" Available at: https://www.ayk.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/ERTA%C5%9E-Selahattin-GEL%C4%B0%C5%9EEN-TEKNOLOJ%C4%B0-I%C5%9EI%C4%9EINDA-TEL%C4%B0F-HAKLARI-YA%C5%9EANAN-SORUNLAR-VE-%C3%87%C3%96Z%C3%9CM-%C3%96NER%C4%B0LER%C4%B0.pdf (Accessed on March 27, 2023)
• Srivastava, Akshat “Impact of Digital Technologies On Legal Issue Copyright with respect to Indian Copyright Law” Available at: Impact Of Digital Technologies On Legal Issue Copyright With Respect To Indian Copyright Law | JudicateMe (Accessed on March 27, 2023)

---

Tagged with: Technology, Intellectual Property, Copyright, World IntellectualProperty Organization, WIPO, Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works