Changing perception of piracy/copyright protection in Digital and Internet Era

Abstract

“Piracy” is a bad word, it is an equivalence of “theft” and “robbery”. But historically, many former “pirates” are today’s copyright holders, and many former “pirated works” are now protected by copyright. It is therefore important to have a changing perception of “piracy” and copyright protection, particularly in the era of digital and Internet technology that brings unprecedented opportunity for people to access, use, remix, recreate and redistribute copyrighted works. While international and national copyright laws are in urgent need to be modified to accommodate the new works and uses that are created by the new technologies, all stakeholders should also be prepared to embrace changes and to develop practical solutions to solve the conflicts between “piracy” and copyright protection. This paper uses “changing perception” to comment the current trend of copyright law reform at national and international level, particularly the drafting and adopting of ACTA and TPP, the copyright law amendments in the United States, mainland China and Hong Kong, and the role of grass-root movements such as Creative Commons.