Copyright in motion pictures : the digital era

My thesis specifically deals with copyright and its role within the film industry. Chapter 1 starts off by dealing with how the concept of film grew from a series of photographs to the concept of a film per se, gaining its own individual right to legal protection. It then goes on to analyse what constitutes the subject-matter of a film, with particular emphasis dedicated to the requisites of fixation and originality, certain aspects of which required clarification. Chapter 2 then follows with an examination of the author and producer of the film, together with the rights afforded to the latter, including limitations to these rights. In this chapter, attention is drawn towards the screenwriter and his rights. Although copyrights are subject to limitations outlined in the law, abuse of such limitations amounts to infringement of copyright. Thus, Chapter 3 deals with the concept of infringement, focusing specifically on infringement in the digital era and liability of the Internet Service Provider, together with how this liability was extended to incorporate Internet search engines and file-sharing software providers. The concept of liability of the Internet Service Provider extending its meaning to encompass the liability of file-sharing software providers as well as file-sharing websites merges into Chapter 4, with an examination of the landmark cases of Napster, Grokster and The Pirate Bay, which specifically deal with this issue, including a hypothesis of the Maltese scenario for these cases discussed therein. With digital infringement at hand, Chapter 5 delves into a discussion on Digital Rights Management and Technological Measures used in the protection of digitalised copyrighted works, with particular respect to DVDs. Moreover, this Chapter elaborates on the right of digital private copying and the conflict which exists between the said right of digital private copying and the use of the said Digital Rights Management and Technological Measures. Finally, the Conclusion consists of a general summary of my views on the salient issues of the film industry as discussed throughout my thesis, as well the current action being taken in respect of the battle of the film industry against digital piracy.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Malta

Year dc:date.issued

2010

• Copyright
• Motion picture industry
• Fair use (Copyright)

Statement dc:rights

• info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar//handle/123456789/2561

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.um.edu.mt:123456789/2561