Digital Content Contracts for Consumers

2020

Digital technologies have transformed the way creative content protected by copyright is created, produced, distributed and accessed. The Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market aims to update copyright rules, taking into account changes in these paradigms. Of all the aspects of the reform, this paper critically analyses the content of Article 17, in order to deal with the so-called value gap that forced a change in the liability regime of the online content sharing service provider.

This article aims to critically analyse the two proposals for Directives that the European Commission launched on 9 December 2015: the Online Sales Directive and the Digital Content Directive. Both proposals are part of the Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe. Their main objective is to eliminate one of the barriers to cross-border trade: differences in contract law between Member States. This article is structured in two parts, which will be published separately. The first part of the article aims at answering the question of whether the new rules will attain their objective of reducing the complexity of the legal framework applicable to consumer protection in e-commerce. Section 2 briefly introduces the purpose of the Directives and their precedents. Sections 3 and 4 discuss, with regard to each Directive, what kind of contracts are covered by the Directives, how these contracts are currently regulated in Europe and what the implications are of the new rules, if adopted, for the contract law of Member States. It can be argued that whereas the Online Sales Directive will contribute to increasing the fragmentation of the regulation on consumer sales, the Digital Content Directive will address the existing legal lacunae at the EU level concerning certain aspects of contracts for the supply of digital content. Rosa Milà Rafel

info, 2012

Purpose-This article seeks to deal with the fundamental conceptual differences between consumer law and copyright law that render the application of consumer law to copyright-law related conflicts difficult. Design/methodology/approach-Following a normative approach to copyright and consumer law based on an analysis of the relevant literature and case law, the article examines in which situations consumers encounter obstacles when trying to rely on consumer law to invoke ''privileges'' granted to them under copyright law, such as the private copying exception. Findings-Research shows that most difficulties lie in the fundamental conceptual differences between consumer law and copyright law regarding the objectives and beneficiaries of each regime, as well as diverging conceptions of ''property'', ''user rights'' and ''internal market''. Such discrepancies undeniably follow from the fact that each regime traditionally never had to deal with each other's concerns: consumers never played a role in copyright law, whereas copyright protected works were not seen as consumer goods. Originality/value-By identifying the main conceptual differences between the two legal regimes, the article contributes in an inter-disciplinary manner to the discussion on the place of the digital consumer under European law.

2013

This thesis aims at defining, both legally and normatively, the nature and scope of consumers' rights to commercial copies of copyright works as an essential means to preserve the coherence and legitimacy of copyright. It explores the interaction between: ( 1) technological developments, which empower consumers to experience copyright works in unprecedented ways, but also augment copyright holders' control over access to and use of their works; (2) the progressive expansion in scope of copyright holders' exclusive rights as conferred by copyright law; and (3) the contract terms and technological protection measures under which copyright works are made available to consumers. The nature and scope of consumers' rights to commercial copies of copyright works are defined by applying property law and theory, in particular, through an analysis of the concepts of ownership, property limitations and the numerus clausus principle. The nature and scope of consumers' rights...

2020

The digital revolution has had a strong impact on copyright-intensive industries. The ease of removing rightholders' information from their works and distributing content in the online environment contributes to the difficulties faced by rightholders seeking to effectively license their rights and obtain remuneration for the online distribution of their works. This has allegedly become a threat to the future production of creative content. While some studies demonstrate that within the copyright industries the sky is rising rather than falling, the emergence of a growing value gap is indisputable. With online platforms gaining more revenue as a result of digitalisation en masse, the European Commission decided that the right step forward is to improve the position of rightholders by placing additional burdens on those that allowed them to thrive. The European Commission introduced the Digital Single Market Copyright Directive with a hope of ensuring that consumers and creators c...

The production of digital content is a phenomenon which has completely changed the conditions of access to knowledge. Within this framework it becomes even more important to find and to formulate a new settlement for intellectual property rights balancing contrasted rights. Owners of the old technology and policy makers have found two different solutions and remedies for intellectual property rights: legal and technological. When both remedies work together any rights that a consumer may have under copyright law could be replaced by a unilaterally defined contractual term and condition. To balance this inequity this article analyses different solutions under U.S. and E.U. law, with particular attention paid to the relationship between contract law and copyright law. Ultimately this article suggests seeing technological protection measures as a souped-up standard form contract, and demonstrates how some business models are able to solve the problem of safe diffusion of digital media.

… -Technological, Economic, Legal and Political Aspects …

Juridica International

The EU Digital Content Directive provides for overarching regulation of the supply of digital content and services. In this light, the article presents analysis of how contracts for the supply of digital content or digital services can be qualified under Estonian law. More specific focus is placed on contracts for digital services such as storage in a cloud service or use of Web based software, because it is not entirely clear whether the underlying contracts should be considered some type of contract for use or, rather, some kind of contract for provision of services. The article examines the distinctive characteristics of particular types of contracts for use and for services, such as the possible object of the specific type of contract at issue and the main obligations of the parties, for purposes of determining whether they are suitable for the supply of digital content or digital services. This distinction is important for understanding of the directive’s relationship with nati...

The growth of the quality of digital content market is intrinsically linked to consumer confidence, and the confidence of consumers is rooted in the awareness consumers have regarding their rights in the purchase of digital content. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 recently enacted in the United Kingdom attempts to solve the problem often associated with applying a legal regime set in an analogue era in a digital age. The Act brings together key consumer rights, harmonising existing provisions to give a single approach. This paper argues that clarity in consumer rights will invariably boost the quality of digital content market hence this paper takes a consumer empowerment approach in regulating digital content. The analysis of digital content and consumer rights in the United Kingdom under Consumer Rights Act will be the benchmark for making recommendations on how an emerging economy like Nigeria can surmount hurdles in advancing its digital economy, especially where digital content and consumer rights are concerned.