M. Favale, ‘Death and Resurrection of Copyright, between Law and Technology’, Information and Communication Technology Law, Volume 23, Issue 2, 2014

The paper reviews copyright philosophical, economic and social justification confronted by the dematerialization of creative outputs.  Digital Rights Management (DRM) is the tool implemented by copyright owners to adjust to the advent of the Digital Era. The claim is that DRM effectively addresses digital threats and market failures. If this is true, what is left of the role of copyright law in the digital environment?

This review suggests an argument for traditional copyright justifications to resist in the digital environment. As a consequence, digital tools as DRM need to be engineered according to these justifications, in order to preserve the balance between law and technology.