Author: Flechsig, Norbert P.

Source: Zeitschrift fuer Geistiges Eigentum / Intellectual Property Journal, Volume 3, Number 1, March 2011 , pp. 19-46(28)

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Abstract:

To save our basic understanding of intellectual property as being underpinned, regulated and structured by the moral rights of the individual author from its erosion due to neglect in the media, we need to steer away from a copyright system that focuses only on the creator's right and towards a legal trilateral-protection of copyright protected works for the benefit of authors and users plus intermediaries. We need a copyright turn!

The basic idea of a content flatrate - exemplified in the paper by way of a (proposed) general exemption clause for education and scienc - shows the need for deeper and more intensive discussions about the use of cultural assets in the framework of internet-based services. We should no longer wait for suitable solutions. Otherwise we seriously endanger creative artists as well as neighbouring right owners. Therefore, we are obliged to continuously re-examine the practical concretion of our constitutional guarantees for the protection of intellectual property. In a pluriversum of diverse ideas we need specific and unambiguous solutions to defend intellectual property against bargain-hunting mentality and simultaneously to prevent the emergence of constitutive monopolies of information providers, such as Google.

If the ideologically neutral, but not value-free community and state are interested in preserving the right to cultural achievements as part of natural law at the same time encouraging learning and the progress of society in general, new digital types of use of copyright protected works have to be subject to a liability rule. That is, these types of use should be exempted from the exclusive right, while subjecting them to a duty to pay a remuneration fee. Correspondingly, intermediaries, who gain financial advantage in prosperous trade with the said cultural content matter, must increasingly be held liable and have to contribute to the revenue chain.

German
Die Zukunft des Urheberrechts gerät immer mehr in die Gefahr der Verharmlosung der grundlegenden Probleme und Interessenkonflikte in diesem Bereich. Einerseits wird national wie unionsrechtlich und international darauf hingewiesen, der Schutz des geistigen Eigentums sei unzureichend; andererseits werden Forderungen nach angemessener Vergütung und einem erweiterten Zugang im besonders sensiblen Bereich der Online-Nutzung erhoben. Aus einer Perspektive, die alle am Urheberrecht interessierten Kreise berücksichtigt, wird hier, dargestellt am Beispiel der Forschung und Bildung, der Versuch unternommen neue, mutige Wege zur Lösung eines drängenden Problems zu gehen.

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2011-03-01

More about this publication?

• The Intellectual Property Journal (IPJ) will be a research-oriented journal dedicated to patents, copyright, trade marks and related areas of law. It will provide a forum for articles which analyze fundamental issues of intellectual property law, including its historical, philosophical, methodological and in particular economic foundations. Since intellectual property law has been influenced by European Community law to a greater extent than other areas of private law, the journal will also aim at contributing to the development of a genuinely European doctrine. Articles and reviews will be published in either German or English; all articles written in the German language will be supplemented by an English summary.
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