Copyright And Multimedia Products

Author : Alex Morrison
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (141 download)

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Download or read book The Treatment of Digital Copyright Works, with Specific Reference to the Role of Collecting Societies and the Online Licensing of Multimedia Products written by Alex Morrison and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Digital technology facilitates the conversion of protected works into a single data format making the different categories of work virtually indistinguishable. This homogeneity of data also permits the display of different kinds of works on the same platform, a phenomenon widely known and incorrectly described as "multimedia". Until recently multimedia works were manufactured almost entirely in CD-ROM or floppy disc format, however, an increasing number of multimedia works are being produced as Internet software. This changes the technical as well as the legal nature of software products bringing them closer to the true meaning of "multimedia", which will become clearer later on. The technical convergence that made digitisation possible also created the Internet infrastructure, which would permit the instantaneous delivery of multimedia products. Unfortunately, the convergence of legal rules required for the effective administration of copyright is lagging behind technological convergence, and thereby impeding the development of the Information Society. For many years the development of multimedia products was held up by a 'marketing bottleneck', which increased the length of the product development life cycle. However, with the emergence of Internet technologies, especially the World Wide Web, this bottleneck has almost disappeared. The licensing of multimedia products has always been complex due to the different rules governing copyright in particular media and the large number of rights involved in multimedia compilations. These rights are currently administered by a bureaucratic system, run mostly by national collecting societies and publishing companies. One of the main consequences of this is that authorisation must be sought in respect of each copyright work used in a multimedia product, a process which is so complex and financially risky as to prevent the production of many multimedia products. Copying technologies that make reproduction of copyright works almost effortless, along with network technologies, which give almost instantaneous access to digitised copyright works, aggravate this situation. While collecting societies may regard the system of exclusive rights which prevails in Europe as a great achievement. Those in the emergent multimedia industry regard this as an obstacle, and are therefore calling for the introduction of compulsory licensing.