0 Preface
With the development of information technologies such as 5G and big data, digital products have grown on a large scale, and the digital copyright industry has ushered in a broad market. Compared with traditional works, digital products are more popular among people due to their openness, easy access, and strong interactivity. However, with the in-depth development of digital products, the copyright protection methods of traditional works can no longer meet the needs of the digital industry. As demand increases, digital copyright faces serious challenges. The emergence of blockchain technology is another leap forward in Internet technology and has epoch-making significance. It has been widely used in many fields (as shown in Figure 1), reshaping the new socio-economic pattern and bringing more changes to related industries. Lots of innovation. Blockchain technology also plays an important role in the field of digital copyright, providing new ideas and solutions to the bottlenecks and difficulties it faces, and bringing new opportunities to the digital copyright market. However, there are still potential legal flaws in applying blockchain technology to protect digital copyright. This article proposes ways and measures to deal with this problem and improve the construction of digital copyright legal protection and governance system.
Data source: PwC 2018 Global Blockchain Survey
1 Advantages of blockchain in the protection of digital works 1.1 Reduce the cost of copyright transaction of digital works
For security reasons, traditional copyright transactions are often completed through third-party platforms. This model uses centralized management. The platform masters a large amount of data information and can easily form a data monopoly. Users may be in a passive position due to information asymmetry, which will inevitably increase transaction costs and difficulty. Blockchain technology has the characteristics of "decentralization". This feature distinguishes issues of "degree" rather than "quality." Resources are distributed across the nodes in a distributed fashion. User wants to use or purchase copyright. You can obtain the other party's credit, price and details of the work at any time, and directly conduct peer-to-peer transactions with the other party. When the transaction is completed, it will be recorded on the corresponding node to protect the copyright of the right holder's digital works. The special asymmetric encryption security operation mechanism also makes it difficult for cybercriminals to steal copyrights, and the extremely high price makes it beyond the reach of cybercriminals. In terms of registration, blockchain copyright registration is different from traditional registration. Registration can be completed instantly and the cost is not high. Overall, this not only reduces certain costs, but also reduces transaction risks. In addition, the blockchain breaks the traditional "third-party trust" and builds a new trust mechanism to get rid of the constraints and monopoly of copyright transactions by third-party platforms to the greatest extent.
1.2 Simplify the infringement evidence procedure
In the Internet, digital works have unique advantages. With the convenience of the Internet, digital works have a wider dissemination range and consume less time and cost than traditional works. This advantage also becomes a disadvantage of digital works. . The reason is that when the work is disseminated, the author cannot effectively control the use of the work; secondly, as digital works are disseminated on the Internet, it is easier for some unscrupulous traders to obtain, illegally copy, reprint, package and sell them at low prices. Finally, when an author is infringed, it is difficult to obtain evidence, and the probative power of the evidence itself cannot be guaranteed. Although the digital rights management system (DRM) currently in operation plays a regulatory role, the procedures for copyright protection are cumbersome, time-consuming and expensive. This causes most authors to shy away from the situation, choosing to remain silent in exchange for as little compensation as possible. loss. Faced with this problem, blockchain technology can deal with it well. It uses a distributed accounting method to record the completion time, ownership and transaction status of the work and cannot be tampered with, thus retaining the original data information. In addition, due to the distinctive feature of "decentralization", data information does not rely on third-party platform storage control. Authors can directly obtain the information they need without going through a third-party platform. They only need to provide the corresponding keys, and the digital assets and ownership can be effectively verified in a short time.
2 Legal Issues in Blockchain Digital Copyright Protection 2.1 Legal Supervision Risks of Smart Contracts in Digital Copyright Transactions
Smart contracts are one of the core technologies of blockchain. It is a data code composed of numbers. It is a digital form of agreement. It is not a civil contract in the legal sense, but it can reflect the intention of the parties and implement the intention. The purpose is to better promote and guarantee the performance of the agreement and strengthen the protection of transactions between contract parties. With the application of blockchain technology in the copyright field, smart contracts will also be suitable for digital copyright transactions.
At present, the number of blockchain patent applications in my country ranks among the top in the world, especially in the economic field and even in the judicial field. For example, the Beijing Internet Court uses blockchain smart contract technology to achieve “one-click filing”. We must not only encourage the innovation and development of smart contracts, but also avoid the legal problems they bring. Due to the lag in legislation, my country currently has no relevant legal provisions for smart contracts and is in a legislative vacuum. There is no relevant regulatory mechanism to restrict it. This will make the application of smart contracts uncontrolled and easily used by criminals as criminal tools, such as market monopoly, insider manipulation, forced transactions, etc. In addition, there is no corresponding regulatory agency during the smart contract transaction process, which will inevitably lead to damage to transaction security. Compared with convenient and fast experience and service, it is more important to ensure a certain degree of security. If there is no security at all, all is lost. Convenience and cost advantages mean nothing.
2.2 Difficulties faced by digital copyright authors in exercising their “right of modification”
Since blockchain technology cannot be tampered with, data changes in digital works will be recorded one by one, retaining the originality of the data to the greatest extent and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the copyright owner. But this also has certain drawbacks. For example, the application of blockchain technology limits the author's exercise of "right to modify." After the author creates a product and uploads it via the blockchain, over time he may have a new understanding of the content that needs further refinement. The "non-tamperable" feature means that even the rights holder cannot change it, which indirectly deprives the product author of his rights. Creative freedom. Generally speaking, authors have the right to make any form of modification of their work, whether or not it is published. "Right of modification" is one of the basic rights of authors of digital works. If it is difficult to satisfy the author's modifications to the work due to technical obstacles, it will inevitably be difficult to effectively protect the author's copyright. This leads to a logical paradox. The blockchain technology itself is designed to better serve authors, but in reality it has become a stumbling block to the authors' legitimate rights and interests. Generally speaking, if blockchain technology continues to maintain a high degree of non-tamperability, it will be difficult to reflect the ownership of the actual rights holder.
2.3 The validity of digital copyright certificates is difficult to guarantee
Under the general trend of evidence informatization, blockchain-based data evidence can improve the credibility, information asymmetry and other defects of traditional evidence management platforms, and play a decisive role in proving the facts of the case. The non-tamperability of blockchain technology can completely record copyright change information and has a certain degree of credibility. In the field of digital copyright, rights holders need to collect certain electronic data when they are infringed. The higher the validity of the evidence, the more likely it is that the electronic data will be accepted by the court, which means the greater the likelihood of winning the case. The "Regulations on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases by Internet Courts" promulgated by the Supreme People's Court also further clarified the legal effect of blockchain evidence, making it a substantial change in judicial application. For example, the Hangzhou Internet Court began to use electronic data stored on the blockchain in a 2018 case involving a dispute over online communication rights. This case is “China’s first blockchain evidence storage case” and also the first response from the judiciary to the legal validity of blockchain evidence. Since then, the judicial effectiveness of blockchain evidence has gradually been recognized by Internet courts. This not only expands the scope of traditional evidence, but also lays the foundation for rights holders to better safeguard digital copyright. But this only recognizes the validity of the certificate at a legal level. Due to the vigorous development of digital copyright platforms in recent years, the number has increased dramatically, and the qualifications of each platform are uneven. They promote to the outside world that their platform uses blockchain technology to effectively help users protect the legitimate rights and interests of digital copyrights, especially when infringement occurs, and provide legally recognized evidence in a timely manner. But it is still unclear whether blockchain technology has been put into practical use, let alone whether the electronic evidence provided can be legally recognized. This increases the difficulty of identifying electronic data and fails to protect the legitimate interests of copyright owners. As a result, the social benefits of the blockchain digital copyright protection system and even the judicial interpretation of blockchain evidence have been shelved, which violates the original intention of introducing digital copyright to the blockchain.
3 Blockchain digital copyright protection strategy 3.1 Improve the legal supervision system
If smart contracts want to develop more stably in the field of digital copyright, they need to be moderately regulated. The law must respond to blockchain technology and provide an effective regulatory system. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the legal status of smart contracts, speed up the construction of a legal supervision system, ensure that supervision is legally based, reduce the risks brought by new technologies, and make them better adapt to my country's laws and regulations. regulations. We can mainly start from the following two aspects: First, introduce regulatory laws and regulations of the management department. As an important part of supervision in this field, the competent authorities should also play an active role and issue administrative regulations, rules and measures as soon as possible to clarify the specific illegal acts and regulatory sanctions related to digital copyright smart contracts. This can be done at the end of the transition period when conditions are ripe. Rising to "Dharma". At the same time, local governments should promptly update and adjust provincial regulations and methods in accordance with the special supervision laws promulgated by the state, maintain the consistency of lower-level laws and higher-level laws, and must not conflict with national laws. . The second is to build a smart contract subject authentication mechanism. The decentralization and anonymity of smart contracts make it difficult to identify the real parties during the transaction process. The effectiveness and remedies of digital copyright contracts will be affected to a certain extent, and at the same time, illegal activities will be covered with an "invisible cloak". Therefore, it is recommended that different standards of real-name authentication be carried out in the technical supervision backend according to the size of the target amount and the degree of payment conditions. The former can adopt lower standards, and the latter can adopt higher standards. This hierarchical management is beneficial to transaction efficiency and regulatory resources. configuration. Moreover, this information can only be managed by authoritative agencies to prevent leakage and eliminate the parties' concerns about privacy and security. When an infringement report is received or a suspected infringing work is discovered, the real-name information verification of the parties can be initiated through layer-by-layer approval, and the relevant personnel will be held legally responsible. responsibility. This approach also strives to find a moderate way out between the decentralization and supervision of smart contracts.
3.2 Strictly stipulate the "right to amend" procedure
From a regulatory perspective, changing the conditions of blockchain technology to adapt to a country's legal norms seems to be most effective, but it can also cause significant problems. After a digital work is uploaded, the author can modify the work at any time if the "right of modification" can be exercised on the blockchain. This behavior obliterates "immutability" and will inevitably lead to substantial changes in blockchain technology. The reason why blockchain can attract the participation of many high-tech technologies is because of its special trust mechanism. If the content recorded in the blockchain can be changed at will, there will be no essential difference from ordinary platforms, and the uniqueness will be lost. advantage. In order to retain this feature, some people may propose that the law can be modified to adapt to the development of blockchain technology. However, the law lags behind and cannot keep up with the speed of technological development. Friction between them is inevitable. In order to shorten the distance between law and technology as much as possible, we can start from two aspects together. On the one hand, if the operation is feasible, we can appropriately change the inherent properties of the blockchain so that it has a "modification" program. On the other hand, it is necessary to establish a national-level regulatory agency to strictly review the procedures and permissions of "modifications" and introduce the concept of "super users." That is, when the author needs to modify the work, it must be approved and certified by the regulatory agency, including identity information and personal information. With facial recognition, after approval by the regulatory agency, the actual rights holder will be granted the right to "modify" his or her work on the blockchain. This not only retains the "immutability" of the blockchain to a certain extent, but also protects the rights of the author. In addition, national supervision is introduced to better maintain the blockchain legal environment.
3.3 Unify and standardize the blockchain service platform
Promoting the long-term development of the blockchain digital copyright market needs to be carried out on the track of the rule of law. The current problem that needs to be solved is to carry out qualification certification and grading standards for blockchain service platforms through legal means. The Cyberspace Administration of China conducted extensive research, fully conducted hearings, demonstration meetings, and symposiums, and issued the "Blockchain Information Service Management Regulations" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") in 2019, clarifying the information security management in the region. "Blockchain Service Platform Responsibilities" requires that blockchain service platforms should fill in the filing information to the State Internet Information Office's blockchain information service filing management system within ten working days from the date of providing services. The obligations stipulated by the blockchain service platform seem to solve the qualification identification problem well, but in fact, this number does not have any legal effect. It only plays a registration and supervision role, so having a registration number does not necessarily mean you are qualified. In addition, the registration management system is an application system and does not have mandatory legal effect like a business license. Moreover, the number of platforms is huge, and the investigation and prosecution efforts of relevant agencies are limited, making it difficult to meet actual needs. In order to standardize the confusion of blockchain service platform qualifications, it is necessary to change the "application system" to the "approval system", formulate a blockchain service platform qualifications approval system, and formulate a qualification certification management system. Certification conditions are unified based on technical standards and actual conditions. Those who do not meet the certification conditions after official review will not be issued a certification code and will not be allowed to operate in the copyright market. At the same time, the qualification certification management system is connected with the judicial department. For blockchain service platforms that meet certification conditions, judicial authorities do not need to identify their identities, which simplifies certain judicial procedures and improves litigation efficiency. In addition, if the electronic data evidence provided complies with the "Provisions on Several Issues in the Trial of Cases by Internet Courts", its legal validity will generally be recognized, which also alleviates the problem of users identifying the qualifications of the service platform. .
4.in conclusion
Digital copyright protection from the perspective of blockchain is a new exploration of the copyright market, promoting technological innovation and the revolution of the copyright industry, and bringing opportunities and new vitality to the development of copyright protection. However, while blockchain technology is developing vigorously, it has also brought about a series of legal issues and dilemmas. We need to respond to these challenges with a cautious attitude, handle risks and responsibilities well, constantly update and improve relevant laws and regulations, establish and improve the blockchain digital copyright protection system, and bring the blockchain field into the scope of Internet governance and management in accordance with the law. Gradual, orderly and safe development has enabled our country to be at the forefront of theory in the field of blockchain, occupying the commanding heights of innovation and gaining new industrial advantages.
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The original article was published in "Internet World" Issue 4, 2022, unit: Anhui University Law School
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标签： #Law #Blockchain #Digital Technology #Smart Transactions #Smart Contracts
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