Digital copyright law: exploring the changing interface between copyright and regulation in the digital environment

Scharf, Nicholas Friedrich (2013) Digital copyright law: exploring the changing interface between copyright and regulation in the digital environment. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This thesis seeks to address and clarify the changing interface between
copyright law and other forms of regulation in the digital environment, in the
context of recorded music. This is in order to explain the problems that
rightsholders have had in tackling the issue of unauthorised copyright
infringement facilitated by digital technologies. Copyright law is inextricably
bound-up with technological developments, but the ‘convergence’ of content
into a single digital form was perceived as problematic by rightsholders and
was deemed to warrant increased regulation through law. However, the
problem is that the reliance on copyright law in the digital environment
ignores the other regulatory influences in operation. The use of copyright
law in a ‘preventative’ sense also ignores the fact that other regulatory
factors may positively encourage users to behave, and consume in ways that
may not be directly governed by copyright. The issues digital technologies
have posed for rightsholders in the music industry are not addressed, or
even potentially addressable directly through law, because the regulatory
picture is complex. The work of Lawrence Lessig, in relation to his regulatory
‘modalities’ can be applied in this context in order to identify and understand the other forms of regulation that exist in the digital environment, and which
govern user behaviour and consumption. By combining his work with that of
other scholars in the field, a bespoke ‘Lessigan’ framework is formulated to
address and analyse those other regulatory factors in conjunction with
actions undertaken by rightsholders to secure their copyrights in the digital
age. The thesis will analyse the effect such reliance on copyright law may
have on these regulatory influences, and the creative potential of the digital
environment.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law
Depositing User:	Users 2593 not found.
Date Deposited:	22 Aug 2013 15:50
Last Modified:	22 Aug 2013 16:05
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/43164
DOI:

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