New Technologies New - Challenges to Copyright Law

Abstract

The issue of copyright licence has endured a hit below the belt. Nowadays, the more and more uptodate technical means that can be used in the real sphere are suitable to create an inestimable infringement of copyright licence. The Internet also is available. Owing to its massive nature, socalled file sharing creates the greatest challenge. For companies producing and distributing different voice carriers, the main problem is lost income, while for the judiciary it lies, on the one hand, in the uncertain legal regulatory system, and, on the other hand, in the lack of personal and material conditions to catch up with events. The dilemma is even more serious concerning legislation. There is no social support - so it is supposed - for announcing that file sharing should be prosecuted (contrary to traditional crimes); moreover, it is a crime adjudged differently throughout the world, and finally, if prosecutions commenced, the number of Hungarian criminals would be doubled (or even tripled) by a simple stroke of a pen. In order to see the situation in reality, and to draw the correct conclusions, it is necessary to introduce the process and the technical environment of file sharing in a more detailed form.