This article aims at linking researches in copyright law and in multimedia security. It presents the core legal issues in the field of content protection and proposes a renewed approach to copyright enforcement. Stating the necessity of tackling the exemptions to copyright from a technical-based approach, it introduces the notion of Digital Rights and Exemptions Management Systems (DREMS). The authors emphasize the need for moving into such DREMS protection schemes and examine the possibility to implement the "balance of interests" within the protection devices.
Digital technologies have introduced new ways of reproducing, storing and distributing multimedia content. This has allowed right holders to develop new services and business models, but it also has given birth to large-scale piracy, involving the recourse to two complementary means: law and technique. During the past few years, the enforcement of copyright has encouraged research work in watermarking and cryptography, resulting in many technical developments. But most of the currently considered solutions are grounded on a misconception of copyright. While technical means of protection are commonly conceived as a safe sheltering for works, any leeway retained by consumers in the use of content is considered as an unbearable potential security flaw. This over-defensive approach to copyright is irrelevant and fraught with consequences for the future of the content industry. Copyright law is not one-sided. It protects authors and investors' interests, but also users' ones, striving to strike a proper balance of interests. Whereas tensions between producers and users are becoming dangerously acute, it is fundamental to integrate those aspects into technical protection designs. This article, suggesting new avenues of designing Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems, is a plea for a return to a sound situation where law strikes a proper balance that technology maintains in equilibrium. It offers an accurate picture of the relationships between researches in law and in multimedia security, linking the approaches to assess both the security and durability of technical means and the feasibility of the current legislative trends.