Timbus - Timeless Business

IT Contracting: A Chance to Avoid Intellectual Property Rights Infringements in Digital Preservation

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Created on Tuesday, 28 January 2014 09:33

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 October 2014 08:32

Digital preservation enables future users to profit from today's knowledge by re-using data, documents and processes. During the course of digital preservation document files, among them computer programs, are archived and converted. Legal issues occur where copyright protected data is, for example, reproduced, as the right of reproduction belongs exclusively to the author. Thus, some actions during the digital preservation process will be an infringement of the holder's rights if they are executed without the author's consent. The forward-looking digital preservation user must therefore make sure that he has a license and can happily carry out digital preservation during the coming decades. However, this is certainly not the end of the story.

This is where TIMBUS enters the stage: the interaction between Intellectual Property rights and upcoming technology poses a variety of legal issues which might not become clear at first glance. TIMBUS considers the legal challenges and offers recommendations on how to overcome the legal obstacles which might occur in the main legal areas.

Before the digital preservation process is executed, an important planning phase has to take place. The digital preservation user has to gain awareness of all rights which need to be acquired in order to avoid future infringements.

To give a satisfactory overview TIMBUS has investigated which technical acts of the digital preservation process might affect IP Rights, including migration, adaptation, porting and emulation. The user of a digital preservation system has to ensure that the right to carry out these acts is granted to him by the authorized person or the rightholder. If IT contracting is used thoughtfully, infringements and payments of penalties can be avoided in advance. Nevertheless, the right of permanent storage and especially redeployment is usually still not acquired. As TIMBUS symbolizes TIMELESS BUSINESS, it stresses the importance of forward-looking negotiations which target continuous adaptation to new technological needs and requirements.

TIMBUS is aware of the flexibility which is needed to adapt contracts to technological progress. For example, according to European legislation the lawful acquirer of a computer program is allowed to use it in accordance with its 'intended purpose' if an explicit contractual permission is missing. A wider interpretation of the goal of a license contract is only one method for adding new technical acts to the scope of granted rights of use for upcoming technologies. Contractual clauses rarely determine in detail exactly which technical acts are permitted. A mutual broader understanding of the contract terms can make digital preservation over time easily feasible. In this regard Change-Request-Management is an important topic in framework contracts with a long duration as well. TIMBUS offers different ways to extend existing contracts and to implement activities essential for digital preservation into the frame of an agreement.

IT contracting might turn into a double-edged sword when technical awareness on the one hand and the necessary legal expertise on the other are missing. This is a welcome challenge for TIMBUS whose research results can provide support for the installation of a digital preservation system and accompany the successful preservation of business processes.