유럽공통매매법(CESL)을 통해서 본 디지털콘텐츠거래의 규율방향에 관한 연구

Abstract

The consumption of digital content has become integral part of our today’s daily life. We watch TV programs and movies online, purchase e-books, download music and apps from the Internet. However, consumers feel considerable uncertainty about their rights and legal protection when doing something online. It results from above all unique characteristics of the digital content itself, and its transaction. Digital contents are mostly experience goods that are difficult to observe in advance. But consumers have no chance to explain the purpose of the purchase of the digital contents. To acquire and operate digital contents we sometimes need certain knowledge of internet and computer and certain circumstances which consumer sometimes does not have. Consumers that have already paid for the digital contents may not know how to acquire the contents or to access to the web-site in lack of internet understandings. Or they could know that they might hear music files also on cell-phone which only operate on computer. I think that digital content contracts between traders could be sufficiently ruled by the existing legislations. But consumers of digital contents needs for urgent legislative help. And it would help also development of the digital content economy. The Draft of Common European Sales Law, though the proposal has been drawn last year, was the first steps of ius commune in sphere of digital contents transactions. It tried not only sales of goods but also digital content contracts. Furthermore it tried both B2B and B2C. But it tried to cover too wide to rule the digital contents contracts sufficiently. Consumer protection rules that reflect the characteristics of digital content and its transaction must be legislated apart from other things. Accessibility, functionality, compatibility of digital content and information obligation of traders should be considered with care in the legislation.