Digital Rights Management and Content Development

Citation

Calvert, P. (2004), "Digital Rights Management and Content Development", Online Information Review, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 164-165. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520410539576

The granularity of digital book production that allows readers to decompose and then recompose content almost at will poses huge problems for traditional interpretations of copyright. Publishers, especially, are concerned by the possible lose of current revenue streams if their products can be endlessly cut up and reconstituted beyond detection by the copyright owners, though it isn't only the publishers who are alarmed by this. Librarians must also be concerned, for they may be affected by the publisher's response to the challenge. If publishers feel that the long‐established balance within copyright is tilting against them, they may react by trying to establish greater protection of their work. Greater protection may mean greater limitations on users, such as libraries and educational establishments, who have long taken advantage of privileges such as “the first copy” principle, and “fair use”. The major theme in this book is a challenging one. The concern is about the implications of favouring too rigid a definition of “fair use” in copyright laws as they relate to digital content, but the opposite could equally occur.

Topics covered in this very useful little book include the nature of “rights” to published works, and who has the rights. To those who have not examined copyright in detail, the list provided by Laidler is surprisingly long. Another chapter by Laidler on digital rights management systems (DRMS) is worth the price of the book just on its own. The topic is inevitably complex, and there is no attempt made here to reduce it to primer level, but if you want a solid introduction to this subject for yourself or your students, look no further. I have already used it as a required reading in a postgraduate course.

The remainder of the book is rather different, focussing as it does on content development and the new tools and skills necessary for digital book production right from the author's first scribbles. The case study on Stephen King's The Plant is very interesting and could make good reading for students.