THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN COPYRIGHT AND THE NORMS OF ONLINE RE-CREATIONS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

As a fundamental principle, by granting exclusive rights, copyright provides economic incentives to encourage authors and artists to express their ideas, and in that process, create a new work. As a general rule, when using a protected work, a person needs permission from the copyright holder of such work. However, this article finds that: economic interests provided by copyright are not the primary incentives for authors to create a work; and due to some obstacles, people cannot conform to the copyright rule that permission to use a copyright work is required. These conclusions are supported by an original empirical study on the social norms concerning the practice of online re-creations.