Chapdelaine, Pascale, "Digital Locks, Physical Objects and Immaterial Works," Presented October 9 at the Texas A&M University School of Law IP Scholars Roundtable 2015.
Windsor Law Faculty Author: Pascale Chapdelaine
Abstract:
This chapter of my book on copyright user rights (OUP 2016-2017) explores digital locks and technological protection measures (TPMs) in relation to immaterial copyright works and physical objects. The chapter also explores the changing role of digital locks and TPMs as we move away from copies of copyright works users possess to services they access. I assess the various perspectives on the means necessary to achieve a proper balance between the competing interests of users and copyright holders. I argue that the legal endorsement of TPMs worldwide is a further illustration of the trivialization of the property rights of copyright users. This trivialization of users’ rights may have been initially facilitated by focusing on the distribution online of information products without a physical object. However, the increased presence of digital locks in the world of physical objects is unsettling and sheds a new light on the disregard of users’ property rights. The extent to which TPMs’ intrusion in the world of physical objects will create the impetus for legal reform remains to be seen. In parallel, the role of digital locks and TPMs in shaping right holders and users’ rights changes significantly as we shift away from accessing individualized copies of copyright works toward enjoying services. Digital locks and TPMs are the founding blocks of online pay-per-use copyright services from which users’ relinquishment of physical controls and prima facie open-ended privileges and powers over the copies of copyright works they experience is now complete.