Does digitizing documents without permission violate copyright?

In today’s digital transformation, digitizing documents has become a common practice in academic and professional life. Many individuals, agencies, and organizations often scan, photograph, or convert paper books, textbooks, and documents into electronic files for easier storage, sharing, or use. So, does digitizing documents without permission violate copyright? This article from VCD will help you.

Is digitizing documents considered copying a work?

In reality, many people believe that digitization is simply a change in storage format, not “copying.” However, legally, when a document is scanned or photographed, a new version of that document is created in electronic data format. This electronic version can be stored, sent, or shared just like the paper version. This means that the content of the work has been duplicated.

According to the Intellectual Property Law, copying is understood as creating copies of a work by any means or form, including electronic copies. Furthermore, the right to copy is an exclusive property right of the copyright owner. Only the owner has the right to permit or prohibit others from performing this act.

Therefore, legally speaking, digitization is a form of copying a work, even if it does not alter the original content. Consequently, this activity falls within the scope of copyright law.

Cases where copying does not require permission from the author or copyright owner

Although the right to copy is an exclusive property right of the copyright owner, the law does not protect this right absolutely. The Intellectual Property Law stipulates several exceptions where organizations and individuals are allowed to copy a work without permission and without paying royalties.

Specifically, according to regulations on “copyright limitations,” individuals are allowed to copy parts of a work for their own scientific research or study purposes. This is a common need in practice, for example, photographing or scanning a few pages of reference materials for further reading. Because the use is personal, not for distribution, and does not replace the original on the market, it does not cause significant damage to the economic interests of the copyright holder.

In addition, libraries and archives are also allowed to copy works for preservation, storage, or to serve readers for research. Similarly, reasonable citation of works for teaching, illustration in education, or news reporting is also permitted by law without requiring permission, provided that the source and author’s name are clearly stated.

However, it should be noted that these exceptions only apply within reasonable limits and are not for commercial purposes. If the entire work is copied, reproduced in large quantities, shared publicly on the internet, or used for commercial purposes, then that act exceeds the limits permitted by law and may be considered copyright infringement.

Therefore, it can be understood that the law only permits copying in situations where it is truly necessary, serves the public interest, and does not affect the normal exploitation of the work. When copying reduces the owner’s control or revenue, the exception will no longer apply.

Does digitizing documents without permission violate copyright?

From the above analysis, it can be seen that since digitization is considered a copying act, in principle, digitizing documents without the consent of the copyright owner may be considered copyright infringement.

In practice, many digitization practices pose clear risks of infringement, such as scanning entire books to use instead of the original, storing digital documents for the entire organization to use, or uploading digitized documents to the internet for widespread sharing. These actions can reduce the demand for purchasing or legally using the work, thereby directly impacting the economic interests of the copyright holder. In such cases, the infringer may be required to remove the material, compensate for damages, or face administrative penalties.

However, not all digitization practices constitute infringement. If only a small portion is copied for personal study or research, without distribution or commercial purposes, it may fall under the category of fair use permitted by law. Therefore, determining whether an infringement has occurred depends on the specific circumstances, including the purpose of use, the scope of copying, and the extent to which it affects the copyright holder’s rights.

In other words, while the act of digitization is the same, the legal consequences can differ depending on the method and purpose of use.

The above is the article “Does digitizing documents without permission violate copyright?” that VCD has sent to you. We hope this article is helpful to you.

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FAQ