Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights on the Internet in Bulgaria
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Abuse of intellectual property rights on the Internet in Bulgaria Master Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the Degree Master of Business Administration in Public Governance and Management Submitted to Prof. Dr. Harvey Goldstein & Dr. Marta Sabou Miroslav Emanoilov 1122002 Vienna, 27-05-2013 AFFIDAVIT I hereby affirm that this Master’s Thesis represents my own written work and that I have used no sources and aids other than those indicated. All passages quoted from publications or para- phrased from these sources are properly cited and attributed. The thesis was not submitted in the same or in a substantially similar version, not even partial- ly, to another examination board and was not published elsewhere. 27/05/2013 Date Signature ABSTRACT With the increasing role of information technology in many aspects of our everyday lives, there can be noticed a trend that it becomes a means through which some people con- duct unlawful acts and use it for criminal purposes. This is a widespread challenge faced by the whole world and Bulgaria is no exception to this. As a member state of the European Union Bulgaria has to meet high standards in combating the violations of intellectual property rights on the Internet, which is a very serious and major problem for the country. Not only proper legislation that adequately regulates relations in the information society is needed, but also its further effective implementation. Despite the efforts of Bulgaria’s government, however, this problem still remains to a large extent unsolved. To examine the reasons behind this phenomenon we use a mixed method approach, combining both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Thus, by concentrating on and analyzing the underlying reasons behind the occurrence of online piracy and supporting them by statistical data on the matter, we manage to reach the key findings that prove that digital piracy indeed has reached extremely high levels in Bulgaria. However, it turns out that the financial losses because of the free online sharing are often exaggerated and sometimes it even brings secondary benefits to the authors. By critical assessment of the Bulgarian copy- right legislation and the measures taken by the government, we see that it fails to balance between the interests of the public and the right holders. The insufficient law enforcement, on one hand, and the strong public opinion in favour of free file sharing, on the other, make the current situation even more complex. Based on the results of the analysis, however, we have I managed to draw several important recommendations and thus, hopefully, contribute with new ideas for the improvement of the situation. Acknowledgements For her contribution for the preparation of the present Master Thesis, special thanks have to be expressed to Miss Alexandrina Banusheva, for her help in the research carried and for obtaining valuable information and data. Special thanks have to be expressed also to Prof. Dr. George Dimitrov, Albena Spassova, Prof. Dr. Violeta Tzakova and Dr. Nikolay Krushkov, for their willingness to share personal experience and opinion on the matter of intellectual prop- erty infringement. II TABLE OF CONTENTS Affidavit I Abstract I 1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................5 1.1 Research aims and objectives .............................................................................................. 5 1.2 Structure of thesis ................................................................................................................ 6 2 Literature review ........................................................................................................9 2.1 Abuse of intellectual property rights on the Internet ......................................................... 9 2.2 Intellectual property and monopoly ..................................................................................14 2.3 Assessment ........................................................................................................................16 3 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 17 3.1 Selection of research methods ..........................................................................................17 3.2 Qualitative methods ..........................................................................................................19 3.3 Quantitative methods ........................................................................................................22 4 Torrent analysis ........................................................................................................ 24 4.1 Torrent portals in Bulgaria .................................................................................................24 4.2 Popular torrent files ...........................................................................................................30 5 Legislative issues ...................................................................................................... 33 5.1 Compensatory remuneration ............................................................................................33 5.2 Liability ...............................................................................................................................35 6 Brief comparison with the EU.................................................................................... 40 7 Discussion and conclusions ....................................................................................... 44 7.1. Is online piracy the real threat in Bulgaria? .......................................................................44 7.2. Recommendations .............................................................................................................45 7.4. Summary ............................................................................................................................54 7.5. Contribution to knowledge ................................................................................................55 Bibliography: ..................................................................................................................... 56 Appendices: ....................................................................................................................... 61 Appendix 1: International treaties or acts on copyright and neighboring rights, to which Bulgaria is a party...............................................................................................................61 Appendix 2: Interview questionnaire: ..........................................................................................63 III Appendix 3: Development of a torrent file in Zamunda.net for a period 12 days ...................... 64 Appendix 4: Price list of performers from ARA Music................................................................. 65 Appendix 5: Table of the most popular posts against the campaign of bTV “FairPlay” (retrieved on 2013/04/02) ................................................................................................................. 66 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Difference between qualitative and quantitative research ........................................... 18 Table 2: List of interviewed experts on the matter of online piracy ............................................ 21 Table 3: Popular websites in Bulgaria for file sharing and downloading. ................................... 25 Table 4: Number of new torrent files uploaded per day ............................................................. 28 Table 5: Software piracy rates in the EU ..................................................................................... 42 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Structure of the thesis .................................................................................................... 8 Figure 2: Users’ rankings on Zamunda.net Source: Zamunda.net, Acquired on 01.03.2013 ..... 27 Figure 3: Screenshot of the torrent portal Zamunda.net ............................................................ 29 Figure 4: Increase of the numbers of movie, music and software files for 10 days .................... 30 Figure 5: Activity of the torrent file The.Twilight.Saga.Breaking.Dawn.Part.2.2012.DVDRip.XviD- GECKOS.torrent on 2013-02-15 ................................................................................................... 31 Figure 6: Activity of the torrent file The.Twilight.Saga.Breaking.Dawn.torrent for 2 weeks ...... 32 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1. Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights (LCNR) 2. Chief Directorate "Combating Organized Crime” (CDCOC) 3. European Union (EU) 4. Electronic Commerce Act (ECA) 5. National Statistical Institute (NSI) IV ABUSE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ON THE INTERNET IN BULGARIA 1 INTRODUCTION Every creator of a product has the right to gain benefits from his work and invest- ments. Every song writer, movie maker, artist, who spends a lot of time, effort and money in order to bring to the public a worthy and valuable product, needs to be able to gain back the money invested and to make a profit out of his or her talent. Their rights have to be protected in a way that nobody could be able to illegally obtain this product or distribute or broadcast it without the allowance of the creator. Every author of a book using his or her imagination and abilities to create an impressive work or