iTunes: How Copyright, Contract, and Technology Shape the Business of Digital Media - A Case Study

Abstract:     
In this paper, the Berkman Center's Digital Media Project has conducted an exploratory case study on Apple's iTunes Online Music Store from a legal and business perspective. The objective of this analysis is twofold: First, it seeks to gain advanced knowledge of the relationships among copyright law, contract law, digital rights management schemes and business modeling processes in the Post-Napster world. Understanding such interactions is crucial when attempting to balance the divergent interests of consumers, artists, the entertainment industry, and technology manufacturers through regulatory mechanisms such as law, code market mechanisms, and adjustment of social norms. Second, the paper is intended as a further step toward expanding the knowledge base of the Digital Media Project beyond U.S. law to include a more detailed coverage of the legal and regulatory frameworks of other countries. The focus of the comparative law analysis conducted in this initial study is on European jurisdictions and selected nations in the Asia-Pacific.

Keywords: Digital media, copyright, comparative law

JEL Classifications: K29, K33, K42, L82

Working Paper Series