Copyright Law Challenges of Preservation of "born-digital" Digital Content as Cultural Heritage
Abstract
The paper deals with the issues of preserving the copyrighted content that are born-digital by cultural heritage institutions within the EU. Firstly, the paper analyses relevant UNESCO documents that define cultural heritage, digital cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage and discusses whether "born-digital" content could be included in one of these categories. Next, the copyright-relevant issues of digital cultural heritage preservation are analysed. Within the EU copyright law framework, the paper analyses the currently applicable copyright exceptions and demonstrates their limits on practical examples. Further, the paper discusses whether the "born-digital" content which is not currently preserved by institutionalised "brick-and-mortar" cultural heritage institutions can be legally preserved by private collectors and virtual heritage institutions. Lastly, the proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market is analysed.
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