Digital creativity: Opportunities through copyright protection

By Bemanya Twebaze

As the world celebrates the World Intellectual Property every April 26, this year's theme "Digital Creativity; Culture Reimagined" shows how far we have come as a Country in the area of embracing technology to enhance our creations.

The advent of technologies especially computers and the internet has created a new digital domain characterized by connectivity through computer networks, information exchange through the web and accessibility via computers and mobile devices.

The digital domain has disrupted the traditional social and economic systems presenting us both an opportunity and a challenge. Intellectual property tools can be used to harness this opportunity as well as overcome the challenges that they present.

Creativity: digital technologies including publishing tools, graphic tools, document tools, multimedia tools all facilitated by software built into common everyday devices including computers, mobile devices, cameras and other equipment have enhanced creativity.

Performers have been discovered on YouTube® ("Sitya Loss Kids"); businesses have been established and survive online; academic institutions exist and provide education services online (virtual universities); freelancers in Uganda provide multitude of services to customers across the world such as editing films, transcribing services, designing websites among others; writers publish literary works via social media platforms and have thousands of followers. This they do without the need for traditional publishing houses as in the case with blogs and localized games such as playing cards are available online and can be enjoyed with strangers in foreign lands using these digital technologies.

This creativity comprised in software, audio, video and text material in the digital format is protected by copyright which protects original literary, artistic and scientific works by granting the copyright owner the exclusive right to exploit the software, audio, video and text material to their benefit. Because digital technologies are fairly common with low barriers of entry, there are potentially millions of Ugandans who are copyright owners and can benefit from the protection under the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act.

Access and distribution: the internet allows for accessibility by the whole world to material in digital format which in theory means the world is your audience, the world in your market. The digital format allows for easy access and distribution. It is much easier to make copies without loss of quality and even much easier to reproduce thousands of copies with low capital investment usually a computer and access to the internet.

This is clearly an opportunity but presents a challenge as well. As it is easy to create and distribute digital format works online, it is also easy for pirates to copy and distribute copies of the work without authorization or remuneration for the copyright holder such that the very tool that is used to promote access and distribution is the same tool that is used to undermine the exclusive right of a copyright owner whose benefit is tied to the ability to control access and reproduction of copies of their created work.

In addition to the legal provisions in the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act that are meant to deter piracy, we at URSB carry out sensitization to build awareness of tools available to for the creative sector to adapt copyright protection to the digital domain. These include:

Licensing by which authorization is given for the right to use the creative material rather than owning it such that instead of selling a CD or audio book, the owner of that creative work sells the right to use or otherwise enjoy a song or read a book online which has given rise to subscription services. This gives the owner control over access and reproduction of their material in digital format. A common example of such a license is what is called click-wrap license where you accept the terms and conditions of the license by clicking on the relevant icon on a webpage.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) tools are used for defining, tracking and enforcing permissions and conditions through electronic means and throughout the content lifecycle. They include:

Labeling the digital content, for example, with a copyright notice or a warning label such as "May be reproduced for non-commercial purposes only" on say a website or other digital material.

 
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a system for identifying copyright works in the digital environment. DOIs are digital tags/names assigned to a work in digital form for use on the Internet. They are used to provide current information, including where the work can be found on the Internet. Information about a digital work may change over time, including where to find it, but its DOI will not change. (See www.doi.org).

A time stamp is a label attached to digital content (works), which can prove what the state of the content was at a given time. Time is a critical element when proving copyright infringement: when a particular e-mail was sent, when a contract was agreed to, when a piece of intellectual property was created or modified, or when digital evidence was taken.

Digital watermarks; these use software to embed copyright information into the digital work itself. The digital watermark may be in a visible form that is readily apparent, much like a copyright notice on the margin of a photograph, or it may be embedded throughout the document, just as documents are printed on watermarked papers. Often, it is embedded so that in normal use it remains undetected. While visible watermarks are useful for deterrence, invisible watermarks are useful for proving theft and on-line tracing of the use of a copyright work.

Technological protection measures include:

Encryption is often used to safeguard software products and films from unlicensed use. For example, when a customer downloads a work,  software can be used to contact a clearinghouse (an institution which manages the copyright and neighbouring rights) to arrange payment, decrypt the file, and assign an individual "key"- such as a password - to the customer for viewing, or  listening to, the content.

An access control or conditional access system, in its simplest form, checks the identity of the user, the content files, and the privileges (reading, altering, executing, etc.) that each user has for a particular work. An owner of a digital work may configure access in numerous ways. For example, a document may be viewable but not printable, or may be used only for a limited period of time.

 
Releasing only versions of lower quality. For instance, individuals or enterprises can post photographs or other images on their website with sufficient detail to determine whether they would be useful, e.g in an advertising layout, but with insufficient detail and quality to allow reproduction in a magazine.

These tools are used to facilitate protection of copyright of material in digital format. We encourage the public to adopt these tools to ensure they enjoy the full benefits of the copyright system even in the digital domain. URSB will continue to provide information on protection and administration of your copyright. Visit us for more information.   

The writer is the Registrar General of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB)