1. Digital Sustainability
in the Knowledge Society
Fundamentals of Copyright
Dr. Marcus M. Dapp
Board OKF Germany / IT Strategist, City Government Munich
10.10.2011

2. What is a »license«?

3. Copyright in the
analog world
By takomabibelot (flickr, CC-BY)

4. 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

5. 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 Form
Expression
• Free of charge
Idea
Concept
WP(en): Copyright

6. © Related / Neighbouring rights
• All rights reserved • Database rights
• Moral rights • Renting rights
(no misuse) • Performer's rights

7. © 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?

8. © 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

9. Copyright in the
digital world By oskay (flickr, CC-BY)

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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«

14. License your group work!
(Recommended ticks.)
http://www.creativecommons.org

15. 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