Democratic Discourse in the Digital Public Sphere: Re-imagining Copyright Enforcement on Online Social Media Platforms

Within the current European Union (EU) online copyright enforcement regime—of which Article 17 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive [2019] constitutes the seminal legal provision—the role of online content-sharing service providers (OCSSPs) is limited to ensuring that copyright owners obtain fair remuneration for content shared over their platforms (role of “content distributors”) and preventing unauthorized uses of copyright-protected content (“Internet police”). Neither role allows for a recognition of OCSSPs’ role as facilitators of democratic discourse and the duty incumbent on them to ensure that users’ freedom to engage in democratic discourse are preserved. This chapter proposes a re-imagining of the EU legal framework on online copyright enforcement—using the social planning theory of copyright law as a normative framework—to increase its fitness for preserving and promoting copyright law’s democracy-enhancing function.

Cultural evolution and music

The universality and diversity of music in human societies make it an important research model for understanding how cultural features change over time and space. In this chapter, we review research on the cultural evolution of music, broken down into three major approaches: 1) corpus-based approaches that use large datasets to infer evolutionary patterns, 2) experimental approaches that explore cultural transmission and transformation, and 3) research on “music-like” behaviors in non-human species, such as bird and whale song, that highlights shared mechanisms and future directions. Finally, we discuss applications of this research to issues like copyright enforcement and algorithmic inequality. Given the diversity of musical datasets that have yet to be fully leveraged, we think that music has the potential to become a powerful research model for cultural evolution.

Copyright Gossip: Exploring Copyright Opinions, Theories, and Strategies on YouTube

This study investigates copyright discourses on YouTube. Through a qualitative content analysis of 144 YouTube videos, we explore how YouTube creators understand copyright law, how they minimize risks posed by copyright infringement, and how they navigate a highly technical and dynamic copyright enforcement ecosystem. Our findings offer insights into how digitally situated cultural producers are impacted by and respond to automated content moderation. This is important because increasingly lawmakers around the world are asking digital platforms to implement efficient systems for content moderation, and yet there is a lack of good information about the stakeholders most directly impacted by these practices. In this study, we present a systematic analysis of copyright gossip, building on the concept of algorithmic gossip, which comprises the opinions, theories, and strategies of creators who are affected by YouTube’s copyright enforcement systems.

A Content Analysis Approach to Intellectual Property Research

This chapter aims to demonstrate the implementation of the content analysis approach in the legal discipline; it argues that this approach is suitable for use by legal scholars, enabling analysis of various legal texts to uncover their connection and to learn about their meaning. Moreover, systematic analysing of legal texts yields insights that fine-tune the various challenges policy-makers and decision-makers are facing. This issue is particularly important in intellectual property (IP) research—a rapidly developing and dynamic legal field that calls for an up-to-date legal response to issues emanating from speedy technological developments. Specifically, the chapter sets forth a content analysis approach to analysing the judicial process in the context of online copyright enforcement cases. I argue that this approach facilitates advanced analysis of the legal process in a way that will help us understand and follow the development of the legal norm and contribute to legal certainty, despite the rapid changes taking place in the online copyright enforcement arena.

Policy-based Implied Bare Licences

This chapter addresses policy-based implied bare licences. Unlike in the previous chapter, there is no contract in existence and no voluntariness on the part of the copyright owner, and indeed in some cases, no prior relationship between the parties. Historically, English common law has recognised an open-ended power of the courts to restrict or prevent copyright enforcement in the public interest, which has been acknowledged under section 171(3) of the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. The chapter considers how a successful invocation of this provision implies a bare licence to achieve policy goals. Although there is no statutory equivalent of this provision in other common law jurisdictions considered here, the chapter explores if the power has nevertheless been exercised by the courts based on their inherent powers. Since policy-based implied bare licences produce the same effect on copyright owners as the statutory limitations or exceptions, the framework for implying this type of licence draws inspiration from the three-step test and the fundamental rights regime.

Copyright Enforcement in the Dutch Digital Music Industry

There is a lack of interest and empirical analysis in the existing literature on composers’ relations with their publishers and the role of Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) within the system of music copyright. The purpose of this paper is to explore and understand the influence of digitization within the music industry on the copyright enforcement in the Netherlands and on rights holders and the CMOs. Also to explore and understand how their mutual relationships are affected by digitization of the music industry. A qualitative analysis was done by reviewing scientific literature, performing a documents analysis and doing open interviews. In the existing economics of copyright literature, the main focus is set on transaction costs, efficiency and welfare topics. The findings can be used to understand and model how rights holders and CMOs cope with the digitization and contribute to the policy makers and economic actor’s discussion about future improvement of the copyright enforcement system.

Private Rechtsdurchsetzung bei Urheberrechtsverletzungen im Internet

Rights holders increasingly seek to involve private market players – i.e. intermediaries such as YouTube, Facebook and Google – to curb and prevent (copyright) infringements on the Internet. The study addresses the causes, the factual and legal premises as well as the implications of this "private copyright enforcement" and points out the possibilities and limits of involving private market players in law enforcement. In addition, the study analyzes and evaluates the possibilities for further development and improvement from a regulatory perspective, also and especially against the background of current legislative developments.