A Bipolar Copyright System for the Digital Network Environment

The widespread adoption of peer-to-peer software has allowed for fast, cheap, and easy distribution of content all over the world. Although this technology promises great advances for the global exchange of knowledge, it also greatly threatens copyright owners' interests. This article analyzes possible solutions to this conflict from an international copyright law prospective, considering requirements imposed by TRIPS, The Berne Convention, and The WIPO Copyright Treaty. This article proposes a flexible "bipolar" system, in which authors are allowed to choose between compensation provided by a levy-tax system and protection of their works through digital rights management technology, as a solution that is compliant with the above-mentioned international copyright treaties.