| Abstract [eng] |
Digital Content Sales Contracts The master’s thesis provides analysis on the topic of contracts for the supply of digital content, examining the relevant Lithuanian and European Union legislation, case law and legal doctrine on the issues concerning the supply of digital content and consumer protection. Researching this topic of the master’s thesis reveals how contracts for the supply of digital content should be qualified in Lithuanian contract law and how Directive (EU) 2019/770 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services should be implemented in Lithuanian law. The master’s thesis analyses the regulation of supply of digital content before and after the adoption of the directive, thus revealing the changes in the regulation of contracts for the supply of digital content brought by the directive. Since the topic of the master’s thesis is closely related to intellectual property law and consumer protection, a lot of attention is paid to the analysis of the scope of consumer rights when entering into contracts for the supply of digital content, namely in examining the (non)application of exhaustion doctrine in the digital environment and its implications for consumer rights, and the significance of the relationship between licensing agreements and legitimate consumers’ expectations for non-conformity of digital content. The paper also examines the place of digital content in the system of civil law objects in Lithuanian law, at the same time analysing the possibility to grant the consumers with the right of ownership of digital content (in particular, to a digital file). The analysis of the applicability of individual types of contracts established in Lithuanian contract law to contracts for the supply of digital content allows to conclude how contracts for the supply of digital content should be classified in national law. After examining the different possibilities of implementing the Directive, taking into account the determined way of classifying contracts for the supply of digital content, the most appropriate option for implementing the directive into Lithuanian law is proposed. |
