Legal Aspects of Cloud Services: Virtualisation of Resources and Impacts on Copyright Laws and CSP's Liabilities

摘要

The terms "Cloud" and "Cloud computing" are often used as synonymous for describing the technical infrastructure by which users may access-via client to server connections-resources distributed over a number of servers organised by Cloud service providers with the aim of offering a range of services, from computing to data analytics, from access to digital content to storage for remote access. What is relevant for the purpose of analysing intellectual property profiles is the fact that the Cloud provides the ability to store and analyse data using computers with a capacity no longer widespread in a myriad of devices but centralised in large hubs. However, these hubs are connected with the periphery in such a way that each of the connected subjects acquires a much greater storage and computing capacity than it could have on a single device. This article analyses how this essential feature of Cloud services creates some "tensions " with the current interpretation of some legal means, mainly in the area of copyright, and how technological evolution determines the need for a rethinking of some legal categories, especially in terms of the right of reproduction, right of distribution and communication to the public.