The challenges of protecting copyright In the digital age due to digital piracy

Abstract

This mini dissertation examines the challenges that arise in protecting copyright in the digital age due to piracy. With the rise and emergence of new technologies and the internet, piracy has only become a prevalent problem that threatens the economic viability of creative industries, harms the reputation, integrity, and dignity of copyright owners, and discourages innovation worldwide. Piracy has caused significant issues for copyright owners by infringing upon their exclusive rights to distribute their works without permission while profiting from their creations. Due to the development of digital technology and the internet, it has become simpler for individuals to stealthily duplicate and distribute protected works, threatening the economic viability of creative industries. Piracy drastically decreases the number of legal sales of intellectual works, which costs a lot of money for authors, publishers, and other key stakeholders. It can have serious financial repercussions on both individual copyright holders and entire companies. This paper looks at several types of piracy, including peer-to-peer file sharing, streaming, and illicit downloads, and how they affect artists and businesses. Due to the works being distributed without permission, it leads to a loss of control over how the work is presented and interpreted by the public. For instance, lower-quality pirated versions of a movie or album could give people a bad impression of the overall calibre of the work, which could influence sales and the reputation of the copyright owner. If creators are not assured of protection from piracy, creators might be less inclined to develop new works. Hence, the cultural and financial importance of the creative industry may be significantly impacted. Furthermore, this study looks at the difficulties faced by the current legal and technological solutions used to prevent piracy. Due to the number of pirate websites that are available on the internet, it is evident that although legal and technological remedies have made a dent in piracy, they are still insufficient to solve the issue fully. This mini dissertation finishes with suggestions on how to strengthen copyright protection in the digital age, which includes but is not limited to better legal frameworks, stakeholder cooperation, and public awareness campaigns.