Online Copyright Creation & Cooperation: The Open Access Program as a New Option in Digital Age

Abstract

Copyright owners produce and distribute creative works in exchange for financial benefits as rewards. Meanwhile, users pay for the access to these works for personal enjoyment, which become the incentive to future copyright creation. Theoretically, this is an ideal circulation of copyright production and distribution. However, copyright owners always want to recoup revenues out of their works as many as possible. The users, on the other hand, prefer to access diversified creative works inexpensively. In digital age, the tension between two sides is more severe. Copyright owners struggle to control online piracy, while online users are frustrated by the inflexible accessing mechanism to works provided by copyright owners. Based on the undesirable situation, the Open Access Program (OAP) is introduced and aims at providing a platform to lower down the tension. The primary feature of the open access program is to license creative works with less restrictions from copyright owners to online users. Put another way, copyright owners license their works outside the regulation of copyright law under a new licensing framework. On the other hand, online users are able to access to works without payment so long as they complies with the requirement of the licensing agreement. Under the circumstances, the accessing costs to online users are significantly trivial compared to traditional licensing under copyright regulation. The open access program enable the cooperation between copyright owners and online users. Unlike the traditional enforcement which creates tension between the two parties, the open access program explore a different path to eliminate the tension and forge cooperation. The open access program provides substantial benefits to online users by free access to works under less restricted licensing agreements.