DEEcon Seminars: Compensation Systems to Fix Copyright Conundrums, Dr. Christian Handke
Channel: DELab UW
Date: 12/05/2021

This seminar revolves round the broad question: how can we make the best of digitalization to promote cultural production and access? This topic has many puzzling aspects regarding, for instance, the ambiguous role of the copyright system in promoting creativity and innovation, or the benefits and increasing power of commercial online platforms, which disseminate creative content. First, we will survey main themes in cultural economics, and how these relate to practical questions regarding copyright policy and cultural policy. Second, we will debate the merits of copyright compensation systems, which (a) provide end-users with legal certainty when using widely available online resources to access and use creative works, in return for (b) a surcharge on Internet subscription, the receipts of which are disseminated among rightsholders. The presentation features empirical evidence that compensation systems could make some cultural industries much more efficient. We will jointly discuss their potential in the current Polish context.