Copyright and Mass Digitization

Maurizio Borghi, Stavroula Karapapa

"In an age where works are increasingly being used, not only as works in the traditional sense, but also as carriers of data from which information may be automatically extracted for various purposes, Borghi and Karapapa consider whether mass digitisation is consistent with existing copyright principles, and ultimately whether copyright protection needs to be redefined, and if so how? The work considers the activities involved in the process of mass digitization identifying impediments to the increasing number of such projects such as the inapplicability of copyright exceptions, difficulties in rights clearance, and the issue of 'orphan' and out-of-print works. It goes on to examine the concept of 'use' of works in light of mass digital technologies and how it impinges on copyright law and principles; for example considering whether scanning and using optical character recognition in...