This article is written by T.V. Lavanyaa, Chennai Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, Pudupakkam, a Fourth-year B.A. LL.B student during an internship at LeDroit India.
ABSTRACT/SESSION PROPOSAL:
The advent of blockchain technology will provide an absolute opportunity for the challenges in persistent intellectual property management and copyright enforcement in India and across the globe. The traditional copyright systems of the digital era might lack strength because of inefficiencies, uncertainties, and barriers to enforcement. The decentralized, transparent, and immutable ledger inherent in blockchain technology permits a prospective shift in three paradigms: namely, creation timestamping via accurate recording, licensing automaticity through smart contracts, and infringement tracking in real-time. This paper will discuss the potential of blockchain technology to improve intellectual property management’s effectiveness, streamline licensing operations, and boost users’ and creators’ confidence. It also addresses how blockchain can protect intellectual property across borders by ensuring that the rights of the authors are guaranteed and that fewer disputes crop up. However, existing issues include jurisdictional, fuzzy regulatory, and decentralized scalability. If blockchain can be successfully integrated into the legal system, then its stakeholders will be able to strike an excellent and well-balanced balance between intellectual property and technological advancement.
KEYWORDS:
Blockchain Technology, Intellectual Property, Copyright Enforcement, Smart Contracts, Creation Timestamping, Licensing Automation, Infringement Tracking, Cross-Border Protection.
INTRODUCTION:
This new digital era has opened up fabulous new channels for creativity and innovation, allowing authors, artists, software engineers, and others to share their work around the world. In turn, it has brought forth huge weaknesses in the traditional structures managing IP and copyright against such rapid change in technology. What is often called the “simplicity of unauthorized duplication, modification, and distribution of digital works” has brought about what is very often referred to as the “copyright crisis.” Piracy is common, intellectual property is shared without authorization, there’s fuzziness on ownership and licensing, and of course, lousy royalty schemes among other things a little hard to ignore. In turn, these issues undermine the core purposes of copyright law-to encourage creativity and innovation by protecting creators with an exclusive right over their works. Against such complex issues, blockchain technology emerges as a novel tool that can easily answer this. Blockchain is an online, decentralized ledger system independent of central intermediaries. In such a way, it gives assurance of developing transparent, tamper-resistant, and verifiable records. Consequently, this has tremendous effects in the management of intellectual property rights. It will revolutionize copyright management of a global digital economy as it can register ownership securely, monitor usage in real time, and automate enforcement with smart contracts.There arise large-scale legal controversies at the level of copyright management systems with the integration of blockchain technology. Can Berne Convention and other international conventions on copyright that highlight ease and universal recognition of rights be reconciled with blockchain technology? To what extent can blockchain technology be reconciled with national copyright legislations which have clearly outlined comprehensive substantive and procedural standards to assure rights protection, as can be seen in India and a host of other jurisdictions?
In addition, the decentralized nature of blockchain calls for a re-evaluation of extant legal standards pertaining to jurisdictional and enforcement nexus. It questions whether block chain can cure the injustice prevailing in traditional intellectual property systems or not, and it then goes on to explain technical and legal hurdles that appear during the implementation of blockchain for copyright management, checks the compliance with prevailing laws, and analyses the capability to deliver fair solutions for users, creators, and stakeholders. Finally, it argues that though blockchain is not perfect, it extends a long way in providing such a framework for generating an even more open and inclusive model of digital intellectual property rights.
UNDERSTANDING COPYRIGHT:
Copyright is applied to original works of literature or art created by individuals and preserved in a tangible form. As copyright is based on national laws, each country’s legal system will naturally affect the degree of protection.
Under applicable laws and regulations, the right provided to the author or copyright holder is the sole right to control, publish, or reproduce their works and also to license others to make use of them.
COPYRIGHT VIOLATION AND INFRINGEMENT:
The rapid growth of the digital publishing industry has amplified the problem of digital copyright infringement, giving rise to a numerous complex case that lowers the incentive for original creators. Under this scenario, blockchain technology has gained immense attention as a possible answer to information security and is now considered an important tool for protecting data.
Copyright infringement, which is also called piracy, is the use of copyrighted works without the legal rights that are necessary; hence, it violates exclusive rights held by the copyright owner. Such rights include the right to reproduce or distribute, display or publicly perform the work, and the right to create derivative works. This is usually the original author or the publisher to whom the copyright has been granted. They normally employ a combination of legal and technical means in fighting and redressing copyright infringement.
Most approaches to resolving copyright disputes include negotiation, notice-and-takedown procedures, and civil litigation. In the case of serious or pervasive commercial infringement, including counterfeiting, the use of the criminal justice system may be necessary.
The evolution of societal expectations, developments in digital technologies, and the broader accessibility of the Internet have contributed to pervasive and anonymous infringements of copyright. Responding to this, dependent sectors are shifting their policy from seeking individual users that search for and distribute the copyrighted material online to working towards strengthening copyright law that places responsibility on service providers and software distributors to enable and facilitate indirect infringement.
UNDERSTANDING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY:
It’s a great advancement in the process of data validation and sharing in the form of Distributed Ledger Technology, or Blockchain. Blockchain is an immutable, decentralized database that prevents tampering and ensures transparency and authenticity in data. Each block has data cryptographically linked to the previous one, forming an unalterable sequence. This way is by how architecture extends only after verification and in the case of a security chronological record. Blockchain permits an immutable, trusted, and reliable repository of all forms of digital assets and transactions.
Blockchain depends on decentralization and no one has the power over a dataset, so information is allowed to the public in order to ensure integrity and transparency. According to MIT Technology Review, “The whole point of using a blockchain is to let people—in particular, people who don’t trust one another—share valuable data in a secure, tamper-proof way.” This feature makes blockchain attractive in various sectors like finance, healthcare, and especially IP rights management.
Blockchain is an immutable digital ledger-secured record of IP rights although transparent and accurate about transactions. The entry in the block is encrypted and linked with the previous block so there cannot be any alteration made to the record, creating a secure record that protects data on copyrights, trademarks, or patents highly being traceable.
The potential is huge about blockchain in the management of intellectual property. A creator can register securely, thereby demonstrating ownership as well as automating licensing by using a smart contract. This actually simplifies the payment process for royalties since there are far fewer third parties and conflict involved. It, therefore, unifies both systems by presenting IP as a global registry on blockchain thereby improving cross border enforceability through a single point of truth.
Blockchain’s decentralized architecture therefore effectively solves piracy and unauthorized distribution issues in the digital world. Its ability to track creative works in real-time means that, for instance, rights holders are able to be immediately informed about infringement to timely act. It also is a transparent ledger which enhances accountability and constitutes a good evidentiary basis for legal cases.
Beyond its practical applications, the legal ramifications of blockchain technology are significant. It aligns with the objectives of intellectual property laws by promoting transparency, fairness, and efficiency. However, its implementation raises critical questions regarding compatibility with existing legal frameworks and jurisdictional challenges, particularly in contexts where enforcement is reliant on centralized authorities. Addressing these complexities necessitates a thorough re-evaluation of current legal statutes to effectively integrate the potential of decentralized systems.
BLOCKCHAIN: HYPE, HOPE, AND HARVEST:
Usually, the enthusiasm and optimism around blockchain technology are always mitigated by the realities of its application and potential advantages. Initially touted as a panacea for a whole gamut of systemic inefficiencies across diverse sectors, blockchain has created much interest around the potential to increase efficiency, security, and transparency of transactions. This optimism, particularly in the field of intellectual property management, is promised to be brought about through the immutable ledger system, and blockchain technology holds good promises for resolving long-standing issues like piracy, illegal distribution, and the difficulties associated with enforcing rights.
In the Indian legal perspective, the very recent cases have started taking the impacts of blockchain technology into its fold. For example, In Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, 2015, an attempt was made to discuss the proportionate steps of balancing online content, keeping the enforcement of intellectual property rights in a highly problematic environment. The Supreme Court’s concern is that the regulation of online content would be impossible without free speech; therefore, the blockchain with its transparent and traceable nature could be a suitable framework for the protection of creators’ rights without impinging on individual liberties.Furthermore, the “Indian Patent Office’s” acknowledgment of blockchain as a potential tool for improving patent management demonstrates an evolving understanding of its applications. The “Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB)” has also recognized the need for innovative solutions in IP enforcement, showing a willingness to explore blockchain’s role in creating a more efficient and transparent patent registration process.
However, while the potential benefits are substantial, it is imperative to approach the integration of blockchain with a critical lens, recognizing the necessity for robust legal frameworks that can accommodate its decentralized nature. The realization of blockchain’s promise hinges not only on technological advancements but also on the establishment of regulatory environments that facilitate its adoption while safeguarding the rights and interests of all stakeholders involved.
Hence, the discussion needs to graduate from pure speculation to a more comprehensive assessment of the legal implications, operational challenges, and strategic frameworks that are required to fully leverage blockchain technology in a way that is both equitable and sustainable. The Indian legal system, replete with rich jurisprudence, must evolve with such emerging technologies so that principles of intellectual property law can align with innovative capabilities that blockchain brings about.
UNLOCKING COPYRIGHT: THE BLOCKCHAIN REVOLUTION
Blockchain technology, one of the versatile inventions now, is under study in the entire spectrum of industries, with copyright law not being exempted. There has recently been a myriad of different ideas from the scholarly and industrial circles about using blockchain technology to manage copyrights and rights thereunder.
•Blockchain Horizons: Concerning copyright, DLT has been suggested as a mechanism to introduce artificial scarcity into the digital market. In this regard, DLT is likely to help overcome difficulties related to the mutable nature of digital goods, enabling the commodification of copyrighted works by turning them into tokens. Such development could give rise to new business models and markets. For example, the blockchain technology is utilized to attract collectors to digital art and such advancement may eventually give rise to technology-driven secondary markets of digital assets. Furthermore, DLT allows tracing digital assets with precise accuracy. Though hashing algorithms create unique fingerprints for secret information, the author of the content is verified, but the content itself is not disclosed; tokens can provide proof of authorship and provenance. As blockchain systems record ownership, usage, and conditions of use, they might form a “revolution” in rights management, especially regarding unregistered intellectual property rights such as copyright and neighbouring rights. Using blockchain technology to establish a global copyright registry will improve data accuracy and facilitate easier smart contract development. Smart contracts are one of the important components of blockchain technology, which can bring forth a potential for greater transparency and lower costs. Once purchased, smart contracts can automate further processes, like paying off royalties. This innovation paired with digital currencies will introduce micropayments that would essentially revolutionize copyright work pricing, thereby providing fair and transparent remunerations to the creators. Companies like Ujo Music have already begun using smart contracts to directly pay contributors while relying less on intermediaries. While smart contracts are likely to introduce disintermediation, replacing such traditional stakeholders as publishers and collective management organizations, new intermediaries may be born. In addition, the lack of user-friendly solutions in smart contract management makes such technology inaccessible to creators and users who do not know how to code. Furthermore, smart contracts can standardize licensing terms across jurisdictions. Besides this, blockchain technology can potentially break existing systems of Digital Rights Management. Issues such as image licensing and infringement detection are supposed to be solved by initiatives like Kodak One and Sony’s blockchain-based DRM solutions. Smart contracts make blockchain-based DRM systems capable of automatic licensing with better security and infringement prevention. But rather than storing the actual copyrighted content, blockchains store metadata and rights information; it relies on the associated systems to authenticate and execute the permits.
•Structural Challenges: Current projects using blockchain for copyright management are facing challenges. One of the main ones is the volatility of the cryptocurrency, which is not suitable for royalty payments even though solutions such as pegged cryptocurrencies may be on the horizon.
A problem is the network effect. Although, for a blockchain-based copyright system to really work, it needs to have many users and then encompass a very broad spread of copyrighted works, nobody actually knows how many users must be there to disrupt a functional system; it makes adoption difficult.
Blockchains also suffer the problem of off-chain double spending. Off-chain transfer of copyrights will no longer reflect upon the blockchain records of actual ownership. Therefore, ownership certificates lose their reliability.
More importantly, blockchain can unwittingly aid copyright infringement by making possible the diffusion of the permanent ledger of encrypted infringing content. Although peer-to-peer file sharing is technically challenging, the tokenization of access to the infringing content may eventually be viable. Blockchains simply cannot solve the garbage-in, garbage-out problem. With information entered into the blockchain not being authentic if it is from elsewhere, it raises the question of correcting errors that have been made inadvertently or intentionally, thereby making better governance and technical processes at play necessary to deal with these issues.
UNLOCKING CREATIVITY: HOW BLOCKCHAIN IS REDEFINING COPYRIGHT PROTECTION:
•Securing Copyrights with Blockchain Innovation: One of the most innovative options for copyright management would be the development of a single blockchain-based digital copyright protection platform. This technology would document the entire process of copyright registration and confirmation effectively, and one could monitor data capture violations in real time. It would also offer unbiased electronic proof and drastically lower the costs associated with defending rights. A safer environment for creators would be the result of this increased chance of successful court remedies.
•Battling Counterfeits with Blockchain Power: With blockchain technology, there are powerful instruments for identifying fraudulent transactions and in stopping those. Since it is possible to determine the existence and legitimacy of copyrighted content, this reduces efforts in counterfeiting. To this end, major bodies such as the European Union Intellectual Property Office are actually researching this application through a series of programs. These include hackathons aimed at creating proof-of-concept solutions, demonstrating a high commitment to using cutting-edge technologies in the fight against copyright infringements. Blockchain technology application for copyright management strengthens the security safeguards and fosters a culture of respect for intellectual property rights.
