The Origin and Purpose of Legal Protection for the Integrity of Copyright Metadata

Rights management information is copyright metadata legally protected by copyright law. The origin of such protection was a United States policy for governance of the information superhighway (the internet) and digital networks. The main discussion documents leading up to the WIPO internet treaties reveal that the policy behind protecting the integrity of copyright metadata was aimed at higher objectives of public interest, such as consumer protection, market efficiencies, and authenticity of creative content. Copyright management information was envisaged as one element of digital infrastructures for creating global electronic commerce, but digital copyright was also foreseen as important for the dissemination of cultural heritage. Today these infrastructures have become a reality through legislation on orphan and out-of-commerce works in Europe, and for the licensing and distribution of royalties for musical works and sound recordings in the US. Countries that implement the WIPO treaties or transplant the US law without considering the whole policy behind the protection of copyright metadata are falling into a copyright management gap because, globally, the discovery, visibility, compensation, and monetisation of local content from places without adequate digital rights metadata infrastructures will be more challenging. This article shows that US digital dominance is codifying and writing the DNA of cultural content.