Copyright Law from a Viewpoint of Internet Users in the EU, US and Japan

Branislav Hazucha

In: ADAMOVÁ, Z. (ed.) Nové technológie, internet a duševné vlastníctvo 5. Trnava: Typi Universitatis Tyrnaviensis, spoločné pracovisko Trnavskej univerzity v Trnave a VEDY, vydavateľstva Slovenskej akadémie vied, 2021, pp. 67-106. ISBN 978-80-568-0232-8.

Abstract: This paper aims to shed light on a conundrum faced by contemporary copyright law and policy in the digital environment that the general public completely ignores and disregards copyright law. To do so, it relies upon an empirical study examining how the general public perceives various commercial and private non-transformative uses of copyrighted works without any prior permission obtained from the concerned copyright holders. The study shows that, contrary to often presented views, the general public clearly recognizes copyright law and deems using of copyrighted works for commercial purposes or in massive way without any consent from the concerned authors as wrongful activity. This evidently confirms that intellectual property law, and especially copyright law, has solid and sound foundations in social norms recognized by the general public and is not any pure construct of law. However, there is a notable mismatch between public views and recent trends in copyright law which attempt to restrict various non-commercial private uses of copyrighted works. This explains why such restrictions, which have no underpinning in social norms, might be quite costly to enforce, especially when they try to change social conduct which is considered by the public as normal and rightful.

Key words: copyright, copyright infringement, private use, non-transformative use, online survey, social norms, downloading, uploading.

URL: http://ntidv.iuridica.truni.sk/archive/ntidv-5/NTIDV-5-Hazucha-Branislav.pdf

Bibliographic Citation

HAZUCHA, B. Autorské právo z pohľadu používateľov internetu v EÚ, USA a Japonsku. In: ADAMOVÁ, Z. (ed.) Nové technológie, internet a duševné vlastníctvo 5. Trnava: Typi Universitatis Tyrnaviensis, spoločné pracovisko Trnavskej univerzity v Trnave a VEDY, vydavateľstva Slovenskej akadémie vied, 2021, pp. 67-106. ISBN 978-80-568-0232-8.