CS5038 The Electronic Society
Intellectual Property: Basics and Digital Media Copyright
Outline
(a bit of roller coaster on this topic)
•
•
•
•
Some terminology and orientation
Copyright and its history
The technology versus law arms race
A range of topics:
 The cost of P2P
 The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
 How to identify IP ownership online
 The Digital Economy Bill in the UK
Note: This lecture is based on earlier lectures written by Brian Byrne, Eddie Wong, Chris Walker and Matt Kennedy. Later
modifications by several others.
1(#total)
Intellectual Property
A term referring to creations of the mind, for which a
set of exclusive rights are recognized --- and the
corresponding fields of law
Under IP law, owners are granted certain exclusive
rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as
musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and
inventions; and words, phrases, symbols and
designs.
Common types of intellectual property rights (IPR)
include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial
design rights and trade secrets (depending upon
jurisdictions).
All of this is paraphrased from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property .
2(#total)
Reasons for Intellectual Property
• Natural Rights/Justice Argument: Person has the
right over their labour, and the products of such, and
also have similar rights over their ideas.
• Utilitarian Argument: makes society more
prosperous.
• Personality Argument: ideas are an extension of
oneself and one’s personality.
All of this is paraphrased from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property .
3(#total)
Reasons for Intellectual Property
``Countries have laws to protect intellectual property for
two main reasons. One is to give statutory expression
to the moral and economic rights of creators in their
creations and the rights of the public in access to
those creations. The second is to promote, as a
deliberate act of Government policy, creativity and
the dissemination and application of its results and to
encourage fair trading which would contribute to
economic and social development.’’
http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/about-ip/en/iprm/pdf/ch1.pdf
The World Intellectual Property Organization.
Established by a treaty of the. UN.
4(#total)
Controversial
• Some people reject the term `intellectual property’.
• For example, Stallman says that confusing the
different types of IP causes confusion about the
rights associated with each.
• Very widely used though.
• Fast-moving and very complicated area of law.
• Science graduates who can convert to highlyqualified IP lawyers are in demand (and very wellpaid).
5(#total)
Public Domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual
property rights have expired, if the intellectual
property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered
by intellectual property rights at all. Examples include
the English language, the formulae of Newtonian
physics, the works of Shakespeare and Beethoven,
and the patents on powered flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain
6(#total)
Copyright ©
“Exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular
expression of an idea or information”
Creative works, for example:
- poems, theses, plays, and other literary works,
- movies, choreographic works (dances, ballets, etc.),
- musical compositions, audio recordings, paintings,
- drawings, sculptures, photographs, software,
- radio and television broadcasts
Digital Media:
- eBooks, MP3 music, DivX video, digital photos,
musical scores
7(#total)
Copyright History
Printing Press − Johannes Gutenberg − 1447
[With metal, movable type.]
Similar printing technology
known in Korea and China
by c. 1234.
[Comparison:
Columbus reaches USA 1492,
Aberdeen Uni. 1495]
8(#total)
The Statute of Anne
Short title: Copyright Act 1709
Long title: "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies of
Printed Books in the Authors or purchasers of such Copies, during the
Times therein mentioned’’
•
Generally considered to be the first fully-fledged copyright law.
•
Replaced the monopoly enjoyed by the Stationers’ Company (The
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers,
www.stationers.org).
•
Company members would buy manuscripts from authors.
 Once purchased, they have perpetual monopoly on the printing of the
work
 Authors themselves were excluded from membership in the company
 Could not therefore legally self-publish
 Given no royalties for books that sold well.
9(#total)
The Statute of Anne
The statute of Anne vested authors rather than printers with the
monopoly on the reproduction of their works.
Time Limits
 Books already printed:
 Copyright owner has exclusive right of publishing it for 21 years.
 Works not yet published:
 Exclusive right to publish for 14 years from the time of first publication
 Right could be extended by an author for another 14 years.
Territorial loopholes
 Did not extend to all British territories
 Unintended consequence: many reprints of British copyright works were
issued both in Ireland and in North American colonies
10(#total)
Later U.K. Copyright Laws
•
Statute of Anne replaced by Copyright Act 1842. Protection covered
auhor’s life plus seven years, (or longer if author died soon after
publication).
•
Replaced by Imperial Copyright Act 1911. Consolidation,
internationalisation, tech. developments (sound).
•
Copyright Act 1956. Expansion, internationalization and tech. catch-up.
•
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Life + 70, or 70 after public.
• Where we currently are, with some later tweaks, e.g.
•
The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003. Transposes the EU
Copyright Directive into UK law. E.g. changes to 1988 to accommodate the
internet. Internet transmissions not all ``broadcasts’’. Particular protections
for software producers, and particular technological infringements defined.
•
UK IP Office http://www.ipo.gov.uk/
11(#total)
Other Countries
• Many countries have similar looking ideas behind their
copyright laws (to the non-specialist)
• e.g. United States Code, Copyright Act of 1976 etc,
http://copyright.gov/title17/
The Berne Convention 1886 - signatories to recognize the
copyright of works of authors from other signatory countries.
12(#total)
UK and Electronic Information
Copyright protects the independent expression of an idea.
Not the idea itself.
Software counted as a `literary work’.
Books, papers.
Certain broadcasts, cable and satellite transmissions.
Recordings of music, films etc.
Specific exemptions and permitted acts, some limited, e.g.
percentage that can be re-used for educational purposes.
Content of databases can sometimes be protected: `substantial
investment’. Does not prevent others producing similar databases.
(The Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997, in line
13(#total)
with the EU Database Directive)
Punishments
• Some infringements of copyright handled by civil law: deals
with disputes between individuals and organization, and awards
compensation.
• Some handled by criminal law: deals with behaviour prohibited
by state to protect the public etc. Punishes offenders.
• In the UK, roughly applies to cases where there has been
commercial dealing of material that breaches copyright.
14(#total)
Sociological theories
Why do individuals commit breaches of copyright?
Criminologists and sociologists very interested in this.
Like to talk about:
Self Control theory: individuals who have been subject to a poor
upbringing or early environment are unable to resist temptations.
Differential Association: hanging out with the wrong crowd.
Social Learning Theory: Learn `deviant’ behaviours via diff. association,
attitudes, diff. reinforcement and punishment, and imitation of peers.
Moral Beliefs: normative constraints (obligations) independent of
usefulness (noninstrumental).
15(#total)
Various Issues with Copyright
Orphaned works
 Difficult or impossible to contact the copyright holder
 Causes difficulty for anybody seeking to use/build on work
Separation of Economic and Moral Rights
 Owner and author can be different. Owner has economic rights, but
author still has moral rights, e.g.:
 Not to have the work altered or destroyed without consent.
 Right to be attributed as the author of the work
 (UK) a privacy aspect – e.g. you own your personal photographs.
 Monty Python (comedy) relied on moral rights in 1975:
 Legal proceedings against American TV network ABC for airing reedited versions of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Provisions for the handicapped
 In U.S. provision for reproduction of material for the blind or other
persons with disabilities.
 Permits reproduction in Braille, audio. electronic, Web-Braille, etc.
16(#total)
Arms Race? Law versus Technology
• Before the Printing Press was invented it was to
costly “pirate” someone else’s work.
• Printing press allows cheap copies.
• Licensing Act in 1662 in England which protected
printers against piracy.
• Laws strengthened over time to catch up with
technology – home recording etc.
• Stronger law gives stronger protection.
• More powerful reproduction technology can make
protection often more difficult
 IP creators unable to claim economic benefit
 Large part of incentive to create lost
 Overall, bad for society (?)
• Technological countermeasures: Digital Rights
Management, watermarking, tracking P2P.
17(#total)
What is P2P?
Peer-to-peer (P2P): computing or networking is a distributed application
architecture that partitions tasks or work loads between peers. Peers are
equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application. They are said to
form a peer-to-peer network of nodes. (See Wikipedia.)
Peer-2-Peer Internet technology
 Largely used for unlawful file-sharing
 Widespread sharing of files, music, etc
 Growing problem as broadband uptake is increasing
Peer to Peer file sharing – e.g., Napster, gnutella, …
 Many forms of p2p
 BitTorrent, …
 Peer-2-Mail (exploits webmail, more secure)
 Instant Messaging Services, e.g. MSN Messenger
 Characteristics:
 User interface loads outside of Web browser
(Standard p2p client)
 User computers can act as clients and servers
 Audio Galaxy, Imesh or Morpheus MusicCity
 Financed by adware/spyware (removal - lavasoft.de)
18(#total)
BitTorrent
• Has rapidly grown into very powerful & popular p2p technology
 Greater speeds
 Ease of uploading files
 Easier to manage downloads
 Downloading larger files possible
(typical movie is 700MB in DivX)
• No search, download ‘.torrent files’ then run on BT client
• In 2006, 53% p2p traffic is BitTorrent …
• In 2006, 30% of all internet traffic …
• http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/02/internet-traffic-reportp2p-porn-down-games-and-flash-up.ars
• ISPs have to throttle p2p connections to control congestion.
• Major security problem. Individuals receive trojan in torrent
download. Want to keep secret.
19(#total)
Effects
• CD sales have fallen since 1999 when Napster started
P2P craze.
• Between 2000 and 2002 CD sales fell by 139 million
copies.
• Musicland: major US music retailer bought by BestBuy in
2000 for $696 million, sold for $1 in 2003
• iTunes is all-conquering … imitators pile in
• Recent years have seen major concerns from the music
industry
• Digital Economy Act in the UK: Track down infringers,
block or throttle their internet connections, sue; removal of
20(#total)
presumption of innocence!
Who does it affect?
Artists
 Lost royalties/profits
 Harder for new artists
Record companies, movie production studios, publishers,
software houses, etc
 Lost revenues
 Increased security and legal costs
Employees
 Redundancies due to store closures, cut-backs, etc
Users?
 Favourite artists dropped by label
 Holes in Firewall -> Computer exposed
 Viruses, worms, etc
 Spyware, adware
21(#total)
Remedies
Lawsuits
 Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA) issued thousands
 Fear
 P2P illegal file-sharing is hard to govern since no specific
laws
BitTorrent tracker sites closure
 Some sites closed – but new ones spring up
Media Defender
 Developed technologies where copyright owners can plant
decoy files to annoy downloaders
 Downloaders working for less than minimum wage
Overpeer
 Discourages p2p file-sharing by using advertisements
 Provide information on where to buy the CD, movie, etc
22(#total)
and even provide samples
Arguments for P2P
Legitimate uses of p2p
 NASA – to distribute cache on BitTorrent
 Free software and open source software
Online multiplayer games – huge business
iTunes & Napster
 Online music download stores
Selling music online




Reduced overheads costs
Reduced production costs
No distribution, packaging, etc
Redundancies: Less staff needed
23(#total)
Summary
97-98% of traffic in P2P is unlawful*
60% internet traffic is P2P*
Every month on average 3.6 billion music downloads
Some people losing out (some gaining).
It’s hard to combat
.
* These figures are changing rapidly
24(#total)
Are New Laws Required to Protect
Copyright
(in Light of Digital Media Internet Etc)
or Have Some Laws Gone Too Far?
– Based on Notes by Brian
Byrne
25(#total)
World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO)
The World World Intellectual Property
Organization is a United Nations agency.
Setup in 1967 to
“encourage creative activity,
to promote the protection of intellectual
property throughout the world”
Currently 182 member states are a member of the
WIPO.
26(#total)
EU Copyright Directive (EUCD); Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
 Member states signed The World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) treaty in 1996.
 Signing countries promised to implement these
treaties in law .
 So the DMCA is the American implementation of the
WIPO treaty.
 There is a European version called the European
Union Copyright Directive (EUCD). Very similar.
 The DMCA Covers many areas:
 We focus on the “Anti Circumvention” provisions of the
law.
27(#total)
Summary of Anti Circumvention
Provisions
Prohibits
1. The act of circumventing technological protection
systems.
2. Manufacture of devices / software that allow the
circumvention of access control or copy controls.
3. Publishing methods to circumvent a protection
system. (e.g., publishing source code).
Allows
1. Circumvention/cracking for research purposes.
2. In certain circumstances non-profit organizations
and libraries can circumvent.
28(#total)
Why was the DMCA required
The circumvention provisions of the act were mainly
intended to stop “black box” descramblers used to
give free cable TV.
Pressure from entertainment industry.
“Arms race” between technology and Intellectual
Property law.
29(#total)
Do we need these new laws?
Computers make perfect and cheap copies of digital
media.
Its difficult to catch pirates because of anonymous
nature of the internet.
Cyberspace offers the worst of both worlds for IP
owners
“place where the ability to copy could not be better and
where the protection of law could not be worse “
(Lessig).
30(#total)
However …
• Technology gives control to IP owners.
• Technology can control how we can consume / use IP.
• User has lost traditional rights (fair use, read a book as many
times as you like, lend it to a friend, sell it …)
• But can’t do this with copy protected electronic books – O’Reilly
Safari book shelf
• Napster subscription based music – stops working when
subscription ends.
• DVDs region encoded. (Bought in another country can’t use on
your machine).
 Perfect control to IP owners.
 In the past organisations were only given “exclusive rights” for
limited time
 If no time limit on monopoly – no incentive to improve
31(#total)
No balance of power between user and
IP owner
The DMCA and protection technology give total control
to IP owner.
No provision to preserve the traditional rights of
consumers.
If a user wants to regain these rights they must break
the law. (circumvent)
32(#total)
Breaking the Law: Circumvention
 DVDs are encrypted by the Content Scrambling
System (CSS).
 Technically, it is illegal to watch a DVD on a Linux
system (all DVD players must apply for a licence).
(DMCA/EUCD)
 Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
refused to grant a license to the open source project
LiVid - Jon Lech Johansen cracked it
 Jon Lech Johansen (aka DVD Jon) tried and retried
in Norway for his involvement in writing DeCSS,
acquitted both times.
33(#total)
Is the DMCA Suppressing Free
Speech?
Many websites published DeCSS – MPAA wanted to suppress it and sent
subpoenas to the web sites saying they were contravening DMCA
The “Hacker magazine” 2600 for refusing to remove DECSS source code from
its website (circumvents DVD encryption system).
They were Aided by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) – but stopped
short of US supreme court.
Legitimate uses for DeCSS
 Fast forward / Remove advertisements
 Remove region encoding
 Time Warner: Local laws impose censorship regulations
 Aids governments around the world in censoring the media their residents
can view
 DMCA makes it a crime punishable in US to circumvent censorship laws of
dictatorships worldwide
34(#total)
Is the DMCA Suppressing Free
Speech?
Security text book author states he is afraid of printing
methods for circumventing DVD encryption.
35(#total)
Is the DMCA Suppressing Free
Speech?
Dmitry Sklyarov a Russian PhD student was arrested in
California after giving a presentation on eBook's
Security protection.
 Circumvented Adobe’s eBook -> PDF
 Only worked with legally purchased copies
 Legitimate uses
 Also allowed illegal copying
Crow bar
 Is it illegal to own or buy one?
 Many legitimate uses
 ‘Going equipped to steal’ is an offence in UK law
36(#total)
37(#total)
Researchers Scared of Court Cases
Edward Felton a Princeton University professor –
$10,000 challenge to remove Secure Digital Music
Initiative (SDMI) watermarks
Published paper – legal action threatened but judge
dismissed case
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
introduced a policy “requiring all authors to indemnify
IEEE for any liabilities incurred should a submission
result in legal action under the DCMA”
After outcry – removed clause
38(#total)
Conclusion
•
•
•
•
•
Copyright law needed to “to promote the progress of
science and useful arts”.
The DMCA is being misused:
Suppresses free speech.
Stifles innovation – researchers scared to publish
work.
Denies traditional rights such as fair use. And requires
us to break law to reclaim those rights.
39(#total)
Identifying Intellectual Property
Ownership Online. Why and How?
Based on Lecture Notes by Matt Kennedy
40(#total)
Introduction
The need for a universal system to identify IPR
ownership
Existing solutions
 DOI (Digital Object Identifiers)
 Watermarking
Future
41(#total)
The Digital Effect
International borders crumbling
Some treaties
But IPR still vulnerable
Digital distribution – more broadband
Main source of revenue
42(#total)
The Music Universe today
PAMRA
Performing Arts
Media Rights
Association
£
Overseas
Performanc
e License
County &
Borough
Council
£
£
Juke Box
Suppliers
PPL
£
Owners public
places where
performances of
music recordings
take place:
pubs, hotels,
shops, etc.
£
Phonographic
Performance
Limited
Producer
AURA
Association of
United
Recording
Artists
£
£
Performance
Rights
Society
£
£
£
£
£
Account.
£
MU
Musicians
Union
£
MCPS
Agent
EQUITY
Computer
manufacturers
Games
& music
novelties
Manager
Musicians’
Union
British
Academy of
Composers
&
Songwriters
£
£
£
£
Record
Compani
es
Representation
Representation
Overseas
Mechanical
Income
£
Performance
Rights
Society
BMR
MU
ISM
Collection Agencies
£
Operators
telephone line
Supplying
music services
£
Incorporate
Society of
Musicians
£
Music Mall
Division of VPL
Providing clip
sourcing
duplication &
clearance
ARTIST
Audio
& Video
Jukebox
suppliers
Songwriter
Composer
£
£
Film&Video
Companies:
Synchron.
licences
£
£
£
VPL
Video
Performance
Limited
Video
Juke Box
Suppliers
Publisher
£
RECORD
COMPANY
£
Retailers:
Sheet Music
Sales
£
£
£
Owners public
places where
performances of
music videos take
place: pubs,clubs,
discos, etc.
Overseas
subpublishing,
Licences &
Mech. Rights
Owners of
theatres &
operas
houses
Grand Rights
Rest:
APRA/
JASRAC
Etc.
£
Lawyer
Licensees for
recording
compilations
& oversees
exploitation
Europe:
GEMA/
SACEM/
BUMA
£
£
£
Distributors
& Retailers
£
£
Film &
Video
Company
PRS
£
£
Overseas usage:
Live, Broadcast
and Synchronisation
ASCAP/
BMI/
SESAC
£
£
Promoter
£
TV & Radio
broadcasters,
satellite &
cable operators
TV & Radio
broadcasters,
satellite &
cable operators
USA:
TV & Radio
broadcasters,
satellite &
cable operators
Owners public
places where
performances of
music take place:
pubs, concert
halls, hotels..
£
Video
Compani
es
TV & radio
broadcasters,
satellite & cable
operators
Users of
library &
backgroun
d music
Collection Societies
Business Service
43(#total)
PRS 1999
Licensing Pain
Retail CD
Creator
Producer
Manufacturer
Distributor
Retailer
Consumer
Licensing pain
Music IPR Licensing
44(#total)
Licensing Pain
not just who owns IPR, but who owns license
Retail CD
Creator
Producer
Manufacturer
Distributor
Retailer
Consumer
Distributor
Retailer
Consumer
Licensing pain
Music IPR Licensing
On-line
Creator
Producer
Manufacturer
Licensing pain
Music IPR Licensing
New communication
gap
How can he sell?,
where?, what DRM?
45(#total)
Digital Object Identifiers
•
•
•
•
•
DOIs – handle, track content
Persistently associate metadata with digital objects
Easily access by prefixing http://dx.doi.org
XML used to store metadata
Drawback - hard to find DOI for some content
• no search facility
• Good for static IPRs
• Poor for dynamic IPRs and offline content –
need regular updates
46(#total)
The Way Forward?
• DOIs provide a good framework for
identifying some types of IPR
• Need:
Search
Data integration and government
cooperation
Contract management integration –
automatic updates
• Always going to have to employ different
methods
48(#total)
`Information wants to be free’
?
More next time.
49(#total)