Exploitation of Works Derived from Indigenous Traditional Cultural Expressions Through a License-to-Read Model on the Digital Book Platform. An Aspect under the Taiwan Copyright Act

Abstract

Taiwan inherits the cultural traditions from various indigenous people who have inhabited here for thousands years. For exploiting such the cultural benefits, the Taiwan government has launched several research projects to collect indigenous traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) created by native Taiwanese people. As many databases have been formed, it is very important to further create some business models to add economic value to the databases. This article provides one model. That is, use digital books with a "license to read" contract. A "digital book" can work with a form of software protection to prevent unlicensed uses, willful copyright infringement, or unwanted content dissemination. This article began with an analysis of copyrightability of TCEs in Part II. Part III discusses ideas of digital books as a way to exploit and protect TCEs at the same time, and it also analyzes the legal framework of copyright protection of digital books under the Taiwan Copyright Act. Finally, Part VI provides a project plan about how to implement the idea. Briefly, the idea of using digital books is based on the trend of some commercial electronic products, such as Apple's iPad, smart phones, or tablets. These products create a platform of digital contents. Customers can read digital contents through Apple's iPad, for example. It is very convenient to do so while the customers are sitting in any place. In terms of copyright protection, TCEs might not be a protected subject, because artistic parts of TCEs might have been within the public domain. However, by using a digital book format, TCEs might be transformed into a new copyrightable subject matter. Moreover, by some software technology and the copyright law of anti-circumvention, copyright owners of digital books could prevent their properties from freely dissemination throughout the Internet. For example, a digital book file could be embedded with a code. The code could be read by certain software which is installed into those digital platforms. So, customers can only access to copyrighted digital book. Also, the digital format might add some interactive features into TCEs which cannot be executed in a paper format. Such the features could be more attractive to customers. The product benefit further inhibits physical dissemination of printed digital books. In conclusion, to further exploit works of indigenous traditional cultural expressions, digital books could be a best way in terms of copyright protection.

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