Fordham Law Review Extract Copyright And Digital Rights Management France And Other Alternative Business Models
2 likes417 views
The document discusses proposed French legislation regarding copyright, interoperability, and digital rights management (DRM). The legislation would require creators of DRM technology to provide information to allow third parties to achieve interoperability. This would confront the U.S. view of copyright as a property right protected by DRM. The legislation is intended to prevent monopolies and allow consumers more freedom of use. However, critics argue sharing DRM information could enable security breaches. If passed, the law would force changes to DRM-restricted industries like Apple's iTunes.
More Related Content
Similar to Fordham Law Review Extract Copyright And Digital Rights Management France And Other Alternative Business Models (20)
More from Acumum - Legal & Advisory (19)
Fordham Law Review Extract Copyright And Digital Rights Management France And Other Alternative Business Models
- 1. Copyright and Digital Rights Management -France and Other Alternative Business Models. Introduction It is the " dawn of an equitable internet", said French Culture Minister M. Renaud Donnedieu de Vabresi in respect of proposed French legislationii dealing with copyright, interoperability and digital rights management (DRM), which by a narrow margin of 60 40 and severe amendmentsiii due to industry pressure has just passediv its second reading in Frances lower Parliamentv. If the proposed legislation does indeed become law, it will bring Frances concepts of copyright protection of digital information into direct confrontation with the U.Ss traditional concepts of the raison d棚tre of copyright - as essentially a property right - now heavily protected by digital rights management technologyvi and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1988vii. Unfortunately, such proprietary ideas have resulted in an uneven trade - off between the rights of the copyright owner to control his work and consequently capture the resulting revenue stream, as opposed to the rights of the consumer to enjoy the work in such a manner as she thinks fit - having produced the revenue income. Added to the broth is the more noble and humanistic right of creating advances in technology, free from undue encumbrances, so as to serve and benefit mankind as a whole.viii 息 Geraldine Noel 2012
- 2. There can be no doubt that what is required is a rethink as to the direction that the law of copyright protection is headed, that the pie of the privilege to enjoy copyright must be shared more equally as between the competing parties of producer, consumer and innovator, so that new technologies may emerge and be enjoyed by all. In this paper we shall use the term copyrightable work/data to mean the mere, sole unit of digital data, which through human ingenuity, packaging and concept can result that is become, without limit, either software, music or the written and/or spoken word. As such, this paper is not confined to the on-line music arena, but instead is intended to be applicable to any information that can be shared in a digital environment.ix Part One France & U.S Alternative Concepts? The legislationx currently in progress in the French Parliament, if passed, would make it mandatory that anyone creating digital rights management technology, otherwise known as technical protection measures (TPM), would have to provide others, upon request, with sufficient information about their TPM, so as to enable third parties to achieve interoperability with their own devicesxi. In the event that creators of TPM were to refuse to provide information or sufficient information, that third party could petition the French Justice Minister in order to compel its furnishing. 息 Geraldine Noel 2012
- 3. The driving catalyst behind the proposed legislation, is to force those corporations seen as either monopolistsxii or potential monopolists on a market share analysis - from either forcing others out of the market, or from preventing consumers from enjoying the breadth of opportunity that such technologies should allowxiii. This issue will not just simply go away. Already, there are plans afoot for similar legislation to be enacted in Denmarkxiv However, detractors of the French legislation, argue that the provision of sufficient information so as to allow interoperability between different technologies is just not practically possible. That is, that it is just not possible to provide such information without also providing the associated algorithms that enable DRMT to be what it is a protected system of managing digital information. Provision of the information, it is argued, would allow, indeed, encourage breaches of security. In response, digital hardware manufacturers, such as Apple Corporationxv with the largest market share of the portable digital hardware market with their media player iPod, has called the proposed legislation state-sponsored piracy.xvi i Andrew Orlowski, France Votes for DRM Interop, The Register on 21st March 21, 2006, at http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/21/france_drm_interop/ ii See full text of proposed legislation at: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/dossiers/ 031206.asp iii As for the proposed amendments to the nascent French legislation see: http://recherche.assemblee-nationale.fr/amendements/resultats.asp?NUM_INIT=1206 息 Geraldine Noel 2012
- 4. iv As of March 23, 2006 v Bill Rosenblatt, President, Giant Steps, The French Legislation on DRM Interoperability: Right Problem, Wrong Solution, March 30, 2006, at: http://www.indicare.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=190 vi Micheal Schlesinger, Overview of Global Implementation of TPMS: Emerging Global Standards, presented before the Fordham University School of Law 14th Annual Intellectual Property Law and Policy, on April 20, 2006, which states that globally 99 countries have enacted TPMs so far and 15 countries are considering draft legislation. vii The full text of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1988 inserted as chapter 12 of Title 17 of the U.S Code, available at http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107 viii For a display of the competing industry attitudes in respect of DRM see Joint Study on 17 U.S.C. Sections 109 and 117 Required Pursuant to DMCA Section 104, Public Hearing November 29, 2000, Summaries of Testimony, Prepared Statements, and Transcript ix E.g. see the use of web sites to share sheet music and/or guitar tablature of songs, at http://www.mpa.org/news/show/5 x Supra xi See at http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/projets/pl1206.asp xii Apple Corp currently commands 75% of the world wide digital market share. See: Rachel Swihart, Apple Sour As French Opt For Interoperability, Associated Press, March 息 Geraldine Noel 2012
- 5. 30, 2006, at http://www.entertainmentmanagementonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/ 2006/ 03/30/44296e4201ef5 xiii See Eric Basngemant, French Parliament Passes DRM Bill. Will Apple Bolt?, March 23, 2006, ARS Technica, at: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060321-6428.html xiv Jefferson Graham, Will Interoperability Demands End Apple's Digital Music Reign?, USA Today, March 30, 2006 at: http://www.macnewsworld.com/rsstory/49668.html xv See Apple Corporation at http://www.apple.com xvi Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris, Theage.com, March 24, 2006, at: http://www.theage.com.au/news/breaking/us-backs-apple-over-fracas-in- france/2006/03/24/1143083947151.html 息 Geraldine Noel 2012