Cahir, John --- "The Structure of Control – Communication Systems and Copyright Law" [2007] ELECD 274; in Westkamp, Guido (ed), "Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007)

Book Title: Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property

Editor(s): Westkamp, Guido

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845427757

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: The Structure of Control – Communication Systems and Copyright Law

Author(s): Cahir, John

Number of pages: 15

Extract:

5. The structure of control ­
Communication systems and
copyright law
John Cahir

1. INTRODUCTION
Since the emergence of the Internet as a popular communications platform
copyright law has been central to public debates on the future shape and devel-
opment of information policy. One often overlooked issue is the extent to
which the structure of communication systems influences the ability of copy-
right owners to exercise control over their works. The aim of this chapter is to
outline the relationship that exists between the structure of communication
systems and the nature of rights conferred on copyright owners by copyright
statutes. It will be argued that the Internet's unique communicative architec-
ture does not fit within the conventional copyright paradigm, and that resort to
novel exclusionary practices ­ `digital rights management' (DRM) technology
and clickwrap licences ­ reflects the inability of the copyright model to
provide authors and creators with the desired level of protection in the online
environment.
Viewed from their historical context it is clear that copyright laws were
drafted with a particular model of mass communication system in mind: one
with the media owner at the centre and a passive, receiving public at the end
nodes. As the means of communicating information developed over the past
300 years, copyright law proved adept at subsuming the resulting commu-
nicative uses within its purview. Changes to copyright law may not always
have been controversy free, yet in the end an acceptable compromise was
invariably reached between the interested parties.1 The ...