earticle

영어

Digital contents are vulnerable to copy. They are easily copied and distributed through the Internet, which may result in market failure. In order to protect market lead-time, contents providers employ technological measures such as encryption, digital right managements (DRM), right management information (RMI). These technological measures help encouraging uses of digital contents, reducing transaction cost and managing copyrights. On the other hand, banning all acts of circumvention, and all technologies and tools that can be used for circumvention has given copyright owners the power to unilaterally eliminate the public's fair use rights. As the number of copyright works wrapped in technological protection measures increases, the legitimate activities of innovators, researchers, the press, and the public are hindered. Even though the copyright system was supposed to balance between the rights of copyrighters and consumers, the anti-circumvention provisions involved in Copyright Act and Development Act of Online Digital Contents Industries disturbed the balance by providing copyrighters with the power to control access to their works. However, anti-circumvention provisions are needed to minimize thenegative effects by the characters of digital contents and the Internet. Thus, anti-circumvention provisions should be enforced and applied only when they are really needed to encourage innovation and protect competition. To do this, it is necessary to distinguish between circumventions for legitimate uses and those for illegitimate access. If anyone buys a legitimate product, he should be allowed to circumvent technological measures for fair uses.