Legal Definitions - communication right

The communication right is a specific power held by the owner of a copyrighted work. This right allows the copyright owner to control whether their work is made available to the public through interactive digital systems, such as websites or streaming services, where individuals can access the work on demand. Essentially, it gives the owner the authority to decide who can transmit their work digitally and when, or to prevent such transmissions altogether.

• Example 1: Music Streaming Service

  Imagine a popular musician records a new song. As the copyright owner of that song (or their record label), they possess the communication right. They can decide to license their music to streaming platforms like Spotify or YouTube Music, thereby authorizing these services to transmit the song to subscribers who can listen to it whenever they choose. If an unauthorized website were to host the song for on-demand listening without their permission, it would infringe upon the musician's communication right because they did not authorize that specific digital transmission to the public.

• Example 2: Online Educational Content

  A university professor creates a series of engaging video lectures for an online course. The professor (or the university, depending on their employment contract) holds the communication right for these video lectures. They can authorize the university's online learning platform to host these videos, allowing enrolled students to access them on demand from anywhere with an internet connection. If a student were to download these lectures and then upload them to a public video-sharing site without permission, it would violate the professor's communication right, as they did not authorize that public, on-demand transmission of their copyrighted educational material.

• Example 3: Digital Art Gallery

  An artist creates a unique digital painting and wants to showcase it online. As the copyright owner, the artist holds the communication right to their artwork. They can choose to display it on their personal website or an online art gallery platform, thereby authorizing its transmission to the public for viewing on demand. If someone were to download the image and then re-upload it to a different public website or social media platform without the artist's consent, they would be infringing upon the artist's communication right because the artist did not authorize that specific digital transmission to the public.