Digital Library & Network Communication Part Two

Network communication has the randomness of replication, which is fleeting and leaves no trace. It is difficult for the copyright owner to verify the infringement on the Internet, and it is difficult for the infringer to be investigated. The traditional copyright protection system is facing great challenges. It can be seen that the steps involved in network communication are very complex, which is obviously different from the traditional form of work communication. When traditional works are spread, the scope and speed of their spread are very limited. However, network communication is not limited by the number of readers and regions. Anyone who has an online computer can browse and read the works they need anytime, anywhere.

In order to facilitate the centralized research and analysis, this paper is limited to the problems encountered by the digital library in its specific scope when it digitizes its collection of works with the help of network technology for readers to read and browse (excluding printing and downloading). That is, what should be paid attention to when the digital library transmits its collection of works after digitization? What are the restrictions? And how to regulate from the institutional level? Before analyzing these problems, let’s go back to the infringement case of Professor chenxingliang v. the so-called “China Digital Library” mentioned above Six writers including Wang Meng jointly sued the “Beijing online” infringement case and seven professors including zhengchengsi sued the “scholar company” infringement case. The common point of these three cases is that their works were digitized and spread online without the permission of the author, thus infringing the right of network communication of the obligee. As the knowledge expert Mr. Xu Zhao said, “the way to solve the digital library is to solve the authorization of information network communication right”.

Here, we must have a comprehensive understanding of the right of network communication, so as to provide the institutional basis for the copyright law to adjust and regulate the digital library in serving the public, which is the key to the problem. The works in the library collection are carried in paper form, and the content of the works and the material carrier are inseparable. And the scope of its spread is very limited. Only through borrowing can readers get access to the works of the library, which is not easy to infringe the copyright owner’s right of communication. In the digital age, the network communication has fundamentally changed this communication mode. As long as the works are online, the spread of information will be very extensive, which is very easy to cause infringement on the interests of copyright owners.

It is easier for readers to contact works through network communication channels. The more such communication audiences, the greater the possibility that the legal rights of obligees will be infringed. In order to regulate these network communication behaviors, many countries and international organizations have made clear provisions by means of legislation. For example, Australia’s 1999 amendment to the copyright law combs and expands the meaning of the right of communication, endows the obligee with a new technological right of public communication, and brings network transmission into the scope of adjustment of this right.

The EU has also submitted the draft proposal on copyright and related directives in the information society to the European Parliament. In the draft, the EU proposes to coordinate the positions of the member states of the EU on online communication with a right to communicate to the public. When China revised the copyright law in 2001, it clearly stipulated the right of information network communication in the form of definition, but did not stipulate whether this network communication is applicable to digital libraries.

Researcher Xu Zhao believes that the right of network communication is a very important right of copyright owners. Especially in the digital age, it is particularly urgent and important to correctly exercise this right to protect the copyright owner’s works from illegal dissemination. If the digital library digitizes its collection of works and spreads them on the Internet, it will infringe the right of the obligee to spread information on the Internet. If we completely restrict or even decide whether the digital library uses network technology to transmit its digital works in the library, it will restrict the healthy growth of the digital library and the public’s access to information. Therefore, the interests of copyright owners should be effectively protected and appropriately restricted. It is beneficial to the development of the digital library that the digital works collected by the digital library can be spread in the library by using the network technology, which is only for readers to read or browse (excluding printing and downloading). In practice, the exercise of this right needs to be regulated by the principle of interest balance, which is an abstract guiding principle and needs to be adjusted with the help of specific operational systems.