Enforcing Blockchains’ Unique Security Controls in Copyright and Royalty Protection

 Abstract

Blockchain technology is changing how to protect copyrights with innovative solutions in different industries. In the past, creatives needed help keeping track of their work, making it hard to prove that it belonged to them. Additionally, it took a lot of work for others to figure out who to get permission from to use the work. With blockchain, things are easier because when a creative creates something, the blockchain records it automatically. This implies that it's clear who the work belongs to, and if anyone wants to use it, they get in touch with the original creator. This process becomes straightforward and ensures creators get payment and the credit they deserve.

Additionally, copyright rights leaned more on technologies such as Digital Rights Management (DRM). But, the rise of blockchain has brought about the speculation of using computer code to administer and enforce copyright. This journal article extensively examines blockchain's unique security controls and their application in bolstering intellectual property rights. It investigates the potential of blockchain technology in addressing matters of copyright infringement while concurrently fostering equitable and transparent royalty distribution. Additionally, it covers the challenges and prospects intrinsic to blockchain integration within the creative industry.

Keywords: Intellectual property rights, blockchain, copyright protection, security controls, infringement, digital rights management

1        Introduction

Law and technology often intertwine with everyday technological advancements, shaping legal frameworks while being heavily influenced by existing laws. In the evolution of copyright law, the dynamic interplay is evident – especially with the rise of blockchain-based smart contracts and technology. These technologies have a huge potential to transform how intellectual property rights are managed, further replacing the existing patterns. About copyright law, computer code has been used to establish a binding norm for those dealing with enforcement systems. Technological protection Measures (TPMs) and Rights Management Information (RMI) are important aspects of DRM, which have played a huge role in copyright law enforcement [1].

Nonetheless, the digital space, characterized by datafication, digitalization, and the widespread availability of copyrighted pieces online, has posed different challenges. While DRM serves as a behavior-constraining force with computer code, it can also be applied to bypass legal protections, thus undermining legally recognized laws, for example, limitations and exceptions under copyright laws.

Understanding the problems and limitations that come with DRM, blockchain-based smart contracts have huge potential. They could be the next saviors, providing a more effective and balanced enforcement of copyright laws. It is important to note that these discussions about blockchain's potential are intertwined with the legal aspects of copyrights and trademarks. The legal regulations related to intellectual property rights and blockchain continue to evolve and can vary depending on authority. However, the necessity for safeguarding against different intellectual property rights misuse forms remains constant.

1.1 Significance and background of enforcing blockchain's unique security controls in copyright and royalty protection

The merging of blockchain technology and copyright protection immediately responds to the growing digital content distribution space. As mentioned above, traditional systems like DRM have faced numerous challenges in safeguarding the rights and incomes of creatives. The issues stem from the ease with which digital content can be copied and shared without proper authorization. To track and curb these challenges, blockchain technology has become a potential solution to revolutionize how copyrights and royalties are handled. Despite blockchain being made to only secure and track transactions from crypto-currencies, its main attributes like security, immutability, and transparency uniquely address existing copyright and royalty systems challenges.

2. Key Security controls in Blockchain technology

Blockchain technology depends on some key security features. Blockchain technology uses secret codes, spreads information, and reaches agreements that make transactions trustworthy with cryptography, decentralization, and consensus. With blockchains, data is organized into blocks, each holding a bunch or several transactions. They are connected, making it difficult for anyone to tamper with them.

Every transaction in this block is counterchecked and approved by a group of users to ensure accuracy. The strength of blockchain comes from the fact that it incorporates many people from across a given network – which means there is no single weak point for anything to go wrong, and not even one person can change the transaction record [2]. It is, however, important to note that not all blockchains are the same regarding security and have small but important differences in how they keep everything safe.

The significance of enforcing these unique security controls has different forms. One, blockchain technology brings about accountability and transparency from its nature as a decentralized – every copyright transaction gets recorded, ensuring everyone from distributors to creators has an immutable and clear record of activities, building trust in the whole industry. Additionally, there will be reduced intermediaries, previously a core part of traditional copyright systems. Blockchain technology can streamline and simplify copyright management and significantly lower costs, thus allowing creators to get a more substantial revenue generated from their pieces.

2.1 What is copyright?

Copyright safeguards one's individual's original artistic or literary work, provided it's expressed concretely. These protective rights are mainly determined by a nation's specific government regulations and laws. Copyright ownership gives the copyright or creator holder the exclusive authority to reproduce, disclose, manage, or authorize utilization of their creative concepts, inventions, and certain information, all subject to the restrictions of the relevant legal framework. Recently, the U.S Copyright Office has been discussing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and issuing a long- anticipation to an application for copyright registration related to a graphic novel created partially with Artificial Intelligence (AI) use. Below are some copyright statistics that emphasize the importance of copyright production:

-          In the last decade, more than 6 billion URLs got removed from Google Search results due to copyright infringement

-          A total of 484,589 copyrights were officially registered in 2022

-          Digital video privacy results in an annual loss to the U.S economy ranging from 29.2 billion dollars to 71 dollars billion

-          Additionally, the copyright industries have contributed over 1.8 trillion dollars to the economic output and employed 9.6 million dollar workers in the United States

-          Surprisingly, illegal streaming services account for over 80% of online privacy globally

2.2 Challenges in the current copyright and royalty protection systems

The biggest challenge in today's copyright protection systems is digital piracy, fueled by the ease of copying and distributing copyrighted material without authorization. This affects many sectors, including software, films, and music, which leads to financial losses for copyright holders and creators. Additionally, creators often need help comprehending how their works are used or even how the royalties are calculated and disseminated. The complex contractual arrangements and licensing agreements can skyrocket the problem as they may result in disputes and prevent the tracking and enforcement of payments.

Consequently, the global nature of creative works complicates copyright enforcement, particularly for international content, as laws and regulations differ across different authorities. As technology advances, such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, they create new challenges that require addressing even other parts needing more rules and resources to protect these rights effectively. Other artists may need help to protect their creations and, in the process, get taken advantage of by bigger companies, including production companies, publishers, and record labels, who may have the legal expertise and greater resources.

To solve all these problems, mechanisms such as technological innovation, legal reform, awareness and education initiatives, and global cooperation are important. While blockchain technology can provide a secure and transparent path, new laws and regulations must be curated to cover today's digital space.

2.3 Infringement and violation of copyright

With the increased expansion of the digital publishing industry, the aspect of digital copyright violation has severely grown, leading to a significant decrease in the enthusiasm of original authors due to different situations of unauthorized use. With time, blockchain technology has collected considerable attention as an emerging information security system, becoming a huge aspect of safeguarding data. Copyright infringement, mostly known as piracy, comes about when copyrighted works are used within the necessary permissions, thus intruding upon the copyright holder's exclusive rights.

These rights include display, performance, reproduction, distribution, and creation of derivative works. Technically, the copyright holder is the originator of the work, a publisher, or another entity to whom the copyright has been assigned. Copyright or creative owners often use technological and legal means to frustrate and penalize copyright infringement. The most common methods that creative use to resolve copyright infringement disputes include a notice, takedown procedure, resorting to civil litigation, or direct negotiations.

 In aspects of large-scale commercial infringement, for instance, particularly if there's a counterfeit issue involved, legal action through the criminal justice system may be pursued. However, advancements in digital technology, evolving public expectations, and the widespread reach of the internet have led to such anonymous infringement that industries reliant on copyright are shifting the focus completely – which are now placing less emphasis on pursuing people who share and seek copyright-protected content online and are instead focusing on extending copyright law to acknowledge and penalize service providers and software distributors accused of encouraging and facilitating and encouraging individual acts as indirect infringers.

2.4. Copyright protection using blockchain

Blockchain is a decentralized technology mainly related to digital currencies like Bitcoin. The primary purpose is to ensure online transactions' security and privacy. As mentioned, blockchains come from the function of a distributed decentralized digital ledger, where records are stored in blocks that are technically cryptographically encrypted and linked. After a series of distributed validations involving network users, each block is cryptographically connected to the previous one, thus eliminating the need for costly intermediaries. The constant addition of new blocks prevents deletions or alterations of previous blocks, thus guarding from manipulation.

Therefore, when combined with digital rights protection and registration, blockchain technology stores digital copyright data within blocks, and every block gets timestamped and linked to the blockchain through a hash pointer to the preceding block's hash value makin, making digital copyright information tamper-proof. According to Zhang, blockchain helps enforce legal rights and facilitates the creation of highly automated payment systems and employment by different companies [3].

For instance, companies such as Blockai, Ascribe, Mediachain, and even Ujo Music apply blockchain technology to register and safeguard copyrights [4]. Users can access and exchange artwork via multiple channels without infringing on creators' rights. Data stored within the blockchain is intended to be durable, reliable, and highly trustworthy based on the strength of blockchain members and data distribution along the chain. For instance, Blockai, a blockchain-based service for artists and writers, employs timestamps to record new work development. Users get profiles to manage certificates and access specific information. The uploaded works can be tracked, copyright infringements can be automatically detected, and owners get notified of unauthorized access.

For music, the London-based Ujo Music gives users an online platform to self-publish their works, which is way beyond what other music labels and publishers are doing [5]. Additionally, musicians get to manage their data collection and marketing. The most interesting part is that they have a payment infrastructure that is being tested, with composers setting the price for usage by music portals, commercial remixes, and downloads; they use cryptocurrency, and ether is used for payments, thus ensuring transparency in revenue sharing and transactions.

3. How does the immutability of blockchain ledgers enhance copyright protection

One of the major challenges with today's digital landscape is ensuring authenticity and source of digital assets. Blockchain deals with this issue by providing an immutable and transparent ledger that notes down ach transactions and ownership transfers. Immutability and transparency are fundamental aspects of blockchain ledgers that ensure their data is reliable and secure. Immutability enhances the trustworthiness of data, thus ensuring that it is highly resistant to unauthorized change, tampering, or fraud.

Immutability works in a way that each block in the blockchain contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, thus creating a chain of blocks. This chaining technique ensures that any change in a single block would need altering every following block in the chain – which is tiring and time-consuming. On the other hand, with transparency, it is a blockchain ledger that relates to accessibility and openness of the contents in the ledger to all authorized participants within the network, which means that each participant gets to view the whole transaction stored in the blockchain. This is particularly important for creatives because they always get in the loop on how their music is produced and distributed and who gets access to it.

3.1. Role of smart contracts in enhancing security enhancing security controls for copyright

Smart contracts are self-executing, programmable features that assist in automating and enhancing security in different blockchain-based applications. When any triggering event occurs, smart contracts automatically execute and enforce predefined rules and conditions without needing any intermediaries. The processes are automated in that any actions happening are precisely coded, which means there is no chance for human error, streamlining operations. Smart contracts ensure that only authorized parties can interact with the contract and that the data is secure [6]. For instance, as the music industry grows, copyright protection has become even more important.

Smart contracts are a great way to efficiently safeguard music copyrights and ensure artists receive due recognition and compensation. Smart contracts' relevance in copyright protections is brought about by the transparency and immutability offered. Once an agreement is made, a smart contract remains unaltered, a stable foundation for copyright agreement. Additionally, smart contracts ensure that song usage and royalties are monitored. Adopting blockchain technology helps have transparent ledger records by documenting who uses the music, is engaged with it, and is entitled to any compensation, which empowers copyright holders to swiftly ascertain the use of their music and detect any form of unauthorized utilization [7].

4. Benefits of adopting unique security controls in copyright and royalty protection

Enforcing unique security controls in copyright and royalty protection has many benefits, contributing to the integrity and growth of creators, copyright holders, and the general creative industry.

4.1. Using blockchain as an IP registry

One of the benefits of using blockchain as an IP registry is efficient royalty distribution. As mentioned, smart contracts pave the way for royalties to be automatically and promptly distributed to IP owners when others use their inventions or creations - which accelerates the compensation process and ensures that the creators and inventors receive their earnings in a timely way, thus benefitting them financially [8]. Additionally, the IP registry reduces approval wait times for patent agencies and regulatory bodies.

The traditional approval process for intellectuals can be bureaucratic and slow, potentially harming the first-mover advantage. Blockchain decentralization leveraging, the registration of new intellectual property, and updates to fillings can occur more swiftly. This expedited process helps creators and innovators by allowing them to secure their rights promptly. Lastly, decentralization registration systems can also improve resource efficiency for regulatory agencies [9]. With a more streamlined system and fewer bureaucratic processes, regulatory bodies can operate more efficiently, thus reducing the burden on their resources and potentially saving costs and time.

4.2. Immutable copyright records

Immutable data is information in a database that cannot or shouldn't be modified or deleted. Traditional databases store information in a mutable format, which means the database replaces older data when new data is uploaded. Security controls ensure the creation of immutable and transparent copyright records. The permanence of the copyright records strengthens the legal foundation for copyright claims, thus providing solid proof of ownership. Additionally, the traditional framework needs an adequate way for creators to catalog their works, further complicating proving copyright ownership and making it difficult. It can be hard for creators to see who uses their work and for third parties to know how to acquire a license. With blockchain, copyrights can automatically come into existence upon the creation of the original work, and if anyone needs to use it, they will be required to contact the original owner properly.

4.3. Tamper-proof and easy tracing

Blockchain technology implementation allows a tamper-proof chain of evidence for copyright ownership [10]. For instance, if a person changed the data stored on the block, the hash value of that block would change. However, the next block would remain the original hash value linking the original block, alerting the system to interference. Additionally, blockchain makes it easy to trace the ownership of the original work. The original copyright date can remain stored in the block's data – which means that if any copyright ownership claim is ever on the line, the data can still be accessed to prove who owns the IP.

4.4. Global borderless scale

Security controls extend copyright protection beyond a global reach. Blockchain's borderless nature ensures that creators protect their works internationally, making it difficult for anyone to infringe or exploit legal loopholes in different industries. Additionally, this makes it particularly useful for a copyright exchange and register, where licensors, buyers, and artists often reach multiple countries and legal authorities.

4.5. Improved security

Traditional databases have been vulnerable to various security threats like unauthorized access and hacking. Blockchain technology employs cryptographic protocols to secure data. Each record and transaction is encrypted, making it difficult for unauthorized parties to manipulate or understand the information. Additionally, blockchain operates on a decentralized network of nodes; every node has a copy of the entire ledger. For any changes to be made, there has to be verification, which significantly strengthens security measures, thus offering solid protection for sensitive copyright information and reducing the possible risk of breaches.

5. Emerging trends in blockchain technology for security controls

There have been current and emerging trends in blockchain technology that can further enhance security controls for copyright and royalty protection in the future:

5.1. Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs)

A zero-knowledge proof is a cryptographic protocol that allows one person who is the proved to convince the other, (the verifier) that a given claim is true without disclosing any details related to the claim itself [11]. This technology is used to verify royalty distribution or copyright ownership without disclosing any sensitive information. ZK proofs are used to authenticate and access control fields to depict an understanding of a password or cryptographic key without revealing the password itself, resulting in better user-friendly and secure authentication forms.

5.2. Interoperability of blockchain and copyright protection

With the fast expansion of blockchain ecosystems, the adoption of blockchains in different industries is equally growing. This trend ensures a seamless integration of blockchain technology-based copyright and royalty protection in different industries and platforms. Additionally, blockchain networks can communicate by sending and receiving tokens, data, and messages. This fosters collaboration, greater communication, and better digital data and assets exchange [12]. Copyright and royalty protection often include multiple systems and stakeholders such as regulatory agencies, streaming services, rights holders, and creators, and when all adhere to common standards, it becomes easier to verify the reliability and accuracy of royalty and copyright data. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all these entities can easily and securely access data like royalty payments, ownership records, and copyright information regardless of the platforms used.

5.3. Integration of AI and machine learning

AI algorithms can analyze blockchain transactional data to identify suspicious trends to fraudulent activity using AI's machine learning and pattern recognition skills. Integrating blockchain technology with AI and machine learning enables advanced copyright enforcement and tracking, more effectively detecting unauthorized breaches and usage [13]. Blockchain securely stores large amounts of data, and AI helps analyze and produce insights from data and generates new patterns and scenarios in the industry. For creative to make supply chains more efficient, responsive, and adaptable while maintaining transaction transparency for the benefit of all involved parties. Integrating blockchain technology and AI can strengthen trust, transparency, security, and reliability operations [14].

5.4. Blockchain scalability

The ever-growing volume of data and transactions related to intellectual property rights demands efficient and secure solutions. Scalability solutions help bring the balance and address this challenge. For instance, one technique applied is sharding, which involves breaking down the blockchain into smaller, interconnected shards or segments that process a subset of transactions independently. By distributing the workload across these multiple segments, the overall network can simultaneously handle several transactions. In copyright and royalty protection, this means that the registration of new copyrights, updates to existing records, and royalty distribution can happen more efficiently and swiftly.

6. Challenges in Blockchain-based copyright security

Despite the numerous benefits of blockchain-based copyright security, it has challenges. Some of the major flaws include:

6.1. Regulatory uncertainties

The evolving nature of surrounding intellectual property rights and blockchain can breed uncertainties, especially with the need for well-defined legal standards and frameworks that can make legal and compliance navigation challenging [15]. The ambiguous nature of the regulatory space, legal enforcement of smart contracts, and cross-border complexities add to the challenges.

6.2. Expensive to deploy

While blockchain adoption can significantly reduce some administrative costs and overheads, initial maintenance and setup can be expensive. Governing and managing blockchain networks for royalty and copyright protection need resources that may further accelerate the budget initially allocated or need to be balanced. Additionally, the initial costs of integrating blockchain into the copyright and royalty protection space demand an upfront investment in adopting or developing blockchain solutions, getting the necessary infrastructure, and maintaining network security and reliability [16].

6.3. Possible security threats

While blockchain is known to increase security features, it is not immune to threats and vulnerabilities. The 51% attack is notorious for posing persisting security challenges in proof-of-work blockchain networks. Such attacks can disrupt the security of royalty payments and copyright registration. With smart contracts, there can be weaknesses, logic flaws, or coding errors that malicious individuals can easily exploit [17]. Additionally, if any network node gets compromised, the entire network can undermine its integrity. Creators who interact with blockchain-based copyright and royalty protection platforms ought to safeguard their access credentials and private keys to prevent unauthorized access to their intellectual property and accounts.

6.5. Challenges in dealing with orphaned works

These works are copyrighted, but their rightful owners cannot be located or identified. With the permanence and transparent nature of blockchains, they become difficult to access since they remain in the ledger indefinitely [18]. While the main aim is for posterity, it may pose a challenge in the future. Therefore, it is important to draw a boundary between privacy and transparency, especially in compliance with data protection regulations. Even in the legal framework, it can be complex to determine the legal status as different authorities may have differing laws about how orphaned works should be handled [19]. Addressing the legal complexities while making sure that the blockchain system follows relevant regulations is challenging.

7. Conclusion

Blockchain technology can transform the digital world and how copyrighted content is distributed. Particularly, it may allow heightened information accessibility about traceability, transparency, and ownership of future changes [20]. Although different methods have been developed in the past and present to protect digital copyrights, there is still a lot to be done with these systems. Blockchain adoption is one step closer to a more secure future with a more unparalleled level of accessibility to information regarding copyright ownership [21]. While there might be challenges like the need for wider adoption and legal concerns, blockchain in copyright and royalty protection is here to transform how things are done. Blockchain's security controls pave the way for a more inclusive, transparent, and fair creative industry in the digital age[22].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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