INTERVIEW:
Question 1
Since the activity on the global network is non-geographical which country’s law
applies?
Answer
One of the severe problems with on-line transmission, the Internet, etc. is the problem
that these networks don't know any territorial limits. You can have a computer in the
United States and computer users from all over the world can visit that computer and
download works from that computer. The problem is which law should be applicable. There
are two possibilities: the law of origin, that is the law of the country where the
computer is, the server; the second alternative is the country of reception, that is the
country or countries where the computer users are located. According to GISAC, it is
important to safeguard the protection of authors. And in GISAC's view that is only done if
we chose the country of reception. Why? This is because there is a risk of so-called
delocalisation, that is people can create data bases on servers and put them in countries
with no copyright protection or with a very low copyright protection, so-called copyright
havens. From these copyright havens they can have data bases to which users can connect
and download the works. If it is the law of the country of these copyright havens that
should be applicable, then there will be no real copyright protection. It would undermine
the whole international copyright protection. So, even if to some people it might appear
to be an odd solution to have the country of reception - and not as for instance in
satellite broadcast, the country of origin - it is necessary in order to protect authors.
Question 2
Today there are discussions about the usefulness of the concept of copyright in a world
where the digital is growing more and more. What is your opinion?
Answer
My opinion is that in the information society it is getting even more important to have
proper copyright protection of authors and other rights owners because it is the authors
that provide the contents of the networks, the contents of the data bases. If their work
is not protected, there will be no proper content of these data bases, they will not
accept their works to be uploaded on these data bases and they will not create new works,
if they know beforehand that they don't have proper protection. So, in my view, in order
to have a well-functioning information society with well-functioning networks, it is
indispensable to have copyright protection on a high level.
Question 3
What about the moral issues that are involved when we want to protect a local community in
a global networking system? In the past there have been cases of Arab countries protesting
against messages and music that were created in the United States that offended their
local moral standards. What is the future of all this?
Answer
They are two sides of the same problem. Both government and right owners want what is
imported into their country to be controlled by rights owners and to some extent by
governments. It is a fact. So, of course, different countries have different opinions
about what should be allowed concerning censorship, etc., and whatever one's opinion is
about that, you must acknowledge that they want to control what is coming into their
country. And that is the same problem as the right owners who want to control what is
coming to their particular country.
Question 4
One of the important aspects of copyright laws is the fact that they are reasonable
because they can be applied. In the past there was something material that could be seized
by the police and perhaps destroyed. With the Internet and digital content this is no
longer so. Do you think that the law should change to take this into?
Answer
It is more difficult but I think that it is not the first time that the lawmakers have
found issues that are new due to technological development. So it is necessary to have a
legislative answer to these new challenges from technology, and it is not impossible. But
of course it is getting more and more important that you look at the basic human rights of
people, rights of integrity that public authorities cannot come into the houses and look
at computers, etc. It is getting more and more complicated. But I'm convinced that
solutions can be found. Maybe we don't know them today, but they can be found tomorrow.
Question 5
Do you see the need for a harmonisation of the different laws in different countries?
Answer
I think it is indeed very feasible to have global harmonisation of the copyright laws. If
it shall be the country of origin that should prevail, that should be the applicable law,
then it is indispensable to have a thorough global harmonisation of the copyright laws.
And it means that all countries in the world must have a proper copyright protection. I
fear it may take many, many years to come to that. There are still many countries with no
proper copyright protection. Many countries are outside the Berne Convention,
unfortunately, but one can hope in a few decades that we have a global harmonisation of
copyright and that then it will be possible to say that it shall be the country of origin
that should be the applicable law, it shall be country where the server is located.
Question 6
Do you think that the Internet will eventually challenge television and all the other
media or do you see Internet as a low level, low technology interactive arena?
Answer
Today, of course, the Internet is a kind of low level technology because it sometimes
seems in the Stone Age when you have to travel through the Internet, but no doubt in a
very few years it will become extremely easy to surf on the Internet and on that day you
will have music and video on demand. It would be an alternative to television and radio. I
don't think that radio and television will be superfluous. I think that people want both
choices. They want the passive choice of viewing television programs, listening to the
radio and they want to be more active, to contact an interactive medium such as Internet
and other networks.
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