Proposal for an approach to improve the awareness of copyright infringement prevention using a nudge-type framework

Abstract

While the importance of intellectual property is increasing, there have been many infringement cases pertaining to its rights. As per a survey of students ranging from elementary school students to university students, university students, especially those who have the most contact with society and start using electronic devices voluntarily, have the lowest awareness of information ethics. The main reason for this can be that they are not directly harmed. Thus, in this research, we selected nudge tools that are highly effective with university students particularly. These tools were selected from the nudge-type frameworks that work on their subconscious. We devised an approach to improve their awareness of the copyright infringement prevention using these tools, and confirmed the change in awareness with and without the application of the approach via a questionnaire survey. The approach proposed in this research and the obtained findings are intended to induce voluntary actions, not to control the actions through explicit regulations or rules. In particular, it has a high affinity with the management of organizations with diverse objectives and human resources, such as consortiums and NPOs.