Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

The Canadian UGC Exception: An Attempt to Revolutionise Fair Use Defence for User Generated Content


Affiliations
1 NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad — 500101, India., India
 

Part I of the research paper attempts to introduce the conceptual understanding of user generated content and the copyright issues related to UGC, following which Part II will present a critical analysis of the problems contained in the Fair use defence as enshrined in the United States legislation. Part III of the research paper will try to argue as to why the non-commercial UGC exception as enshrined in Section 29.21 of the Canadian Copyright acts till remains the much-needed answer which UGC has been looking for so long now, along with a few concluding thoughts. Throughout the paper, the author tries to argue that the new exception, namely the non-commercial user generated exception is the much-needed UGC protection with respect to the commercial aspect ofany user created content on online platforms.

Keywords

Intellectual Property, Fair Use Defence, User Generated Content, Copyright Law.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Samuelson P, Unbundling fair uses, Fordham Law Review, 77 (5) 2009.
  • Fair Use in the United States: Transformed, Deformed, Reformed? lecture by Jane Ginsberg at EW Barker Centre for Law & Business, Faculty of law, National University of Singapore on 12 November 2019.
  • Trosow S, Copyright as barrier to creativity: The case of user-generated content, Intellectual Property for the 21st Century: Interdisciplinary Approaches(Irwin Law 2014), http://www.irwinlaw.com/sites/default/files/attached/IP_21st _Century_25_trosow.pdf.
  • Copyright in the digital age: An economic assessment of fair use in New Zealand, Deloitte Access Economics, 2018, 13.
  • Rosen D, Electronic dance music , creativity , and user- generated content — A Canadian perspective, Intellectual Property Journal Toronto26 (2) (2014) 153-173.
  • Hayes M & Jacobs A, The YouTube Exception Bill C-11 ’ s user-generated content right sureto be the subject of debate, The Lawyers Weekly,33 (28) (2013).
  • Scassa T, The UGC Exception : Copyright for the Digital Age, 2013, http://www.teresascassa.ca/index.php? option=com_k2&view=item&id=142:the-ugc-exception-copyright-for-the-digital-age.
  • Finding a legal balance between legal issues & user generate content, https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/blog/legal-issues-user-generated-content/ (accessed on 24 October 2022).
  • Tim W, Tolerated use, Columbia Law and Economics, Working Paper No. 333. (May 2008) SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1132247 or http://dx.doi.org/ 10.2139/ ssrn.1132247.
  • Lee E, Warming up to user-generated content, University of Illinois Law Review,5 (2008) 1459.
  • Scassa T, Acknowledging Copyright’s Illegiti- Mate Offspring: User-Generated Content And’ in Michael Geist (ed), The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada shook the foundations of Copyright Law(University of Ottawa Press 2013).
  • Tushnet R, User generated discontent: Transformation in practice, Colum Journal of Law & Arts,31 (2008) 497 at 503.
  • Gunnell J, Evaluation of the dilution-parody paradox in the wake of the Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006,Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal,21 (2008) 441.
  • https://www.youtube.com/about/copyright/fair-use/ (accessed on 11 October 2022).
  • Campbell v Acuff-Rose Music Inc510 US 569 at 579 (1994).
  • Tan D, The Transformative Use Doctrine and Fair Dealing in Singapore: Understanding the “purpose and character” of appropriation art,Singapore Academy of Law Journal, 2012, 832.
  • 17 U.S. Code § 107: Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use.
  • Harperv Row 471 U.S. 539 (1985)
  • Khalil M Z, The applicability of the fair use defense to commercial advertising : Eliminating unfounded limitations, Fordham Law Review,(1992) 61.
  • Tan D & Foo B, The unbearable lightness of fair dealing: Towards an autochthonous approach in Singapore, Singapore Academy of Law Journal,28 (2016) 124.
  • Olson A, Dilution by tarnishment: An unworkable cause of action in cases of artistic expression, Boston College Law Review,53 (2012) 693.
  • Geist M, The Canadian Copyright Story: How Canada Improbably Became the World Leader on Users’ Rights in Copyright Lawin Copyright Law in an Age of Limitations and Exceptions(Ruth L Okedijied) New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017, 182.
  • Meese J, User production and law reform : A socio-legal critique of user creativity,Media,Culture & Society,37 (2015) 753.
  • Lipton J D, A taxonomy of borrowing, Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal,2014, 24. ;Scassa T, Acknowledging Copyright’s Illegiti- Mate Offspring: User-Generated Content And’ in Michael Geist (ed), The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada shook the foundations of Copyright Law(University of Ottawa Press 2013).
  • Chapdelaine P, The ambiguous nature of copyright user’s rights, Intellectual Property Journal26 (2013) 1.
  • Bill C-32, An Act to amend the Copyright Act, 3rd Session, 40th Parliament, 2010. Bill C-11 was the last, and C-32 the second-to-last, of several copyright reforms proposed in Parliament since 2005
  • House of Commons Debates, 41st Parliament, 1st Session, No 51 (22 November 2011) at 1714 (Elizabeth May).
  • Sponsor Christian Paradis’ comments when moving that Bill C-11 be read a second time, House of Commons Debates, 41 st Parliament, 1 st Session, No 31 (18 October 2011) at 1030 (Hon Christian Paradis) 176
  • Salvador Rodriguez, “Instagram surpasses 2 billion monthly users while powering through a year of turmoil” CNBC (14 December 2021) https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/ 14/instagram-surpasses-2-billion-monthly-users.html; IqbalM, Instagram revenue and usage statistics, Business of Apps,2022, (6 September 2022), https://www.businessofapps.com/data/instagram-statistics/.
  • Professor at College of Social Sciences , University of Hawaii at Manoa who’s primary research interests involve issues of Intellectual Property and public policy
  • Halbert D, Mass culture and the culture of the masses: A manifesto for user-generated rights, Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law,11:4 (2009) 930.
  • Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Commercial”, online at
  • Section 2, Copyright Act 1985.
  • Stereotronique , also known as Kevin O’Brien, has a history if making electro beyond comparison to some of the greatest producers in the world of underground electronic dance music.
  • Gervais D, User-Generated Content and Music: A Look at Some of the More Interesting Aspectes of Bill C-32, From ‘Radical Extremism’ to ‘Balanced Copyright’: Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda(2010).
  • Industry Canada, Copyright Modernization Act — Backgrounder (2011), www.ic.gc. ca/eic/site/crp-prda.nsf/eng/h_rp01237.html.
  • Questions and Answers — Bill C-32: For Ministers’ Appearance before the Legislative Committee, (2011), www.scribd.com/doc/65726239/ c32ministerqanda; according to a stamp, it was released pursuant to the Access to Information Act; Geist M, Behind the Scenes of Bill C-32: Govt’s Clause-By-Clause Analysis Raises Constitutional Questions, (accessed on 27September 2011), www. michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6026/125.
  • Geist M, Behind the Scenes ofBill C-32: Govt’s Clause-By-Clause Analysis Raises Constitutional Questions, (accessed on 27 September 2011), www.michaelgeist.ca/ content/ view/6026/125.
  • https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/421/INDU/ Brief/BR9952265/br-external/OrganizationFor TransformativeWorks-e.pdf (accessed on 2 October 2022).
  • SandraA, Copyright Corner : The YouTube Exception, (2015) University of Lethbridge Faculty Association.
  • Alberta EducationvCanadian Copyright Licensing Agency 2012 SCC 37.
  • Katz R, Fan fiction and Canadian Copyright Law: Defending fan narratives in the wake of Canada’s Copyright Reforms,Canadian Journal of Law and Technology,2014, 12.
  • Tan D, Works, Marks and Personae: De(Re)Constructing Narratives in Intellectual Property Law, Faculty of Law lecture at National University of Singapore, 2019.
  • Joel W, Fair use on Instagram: Transformative self-expressions or copyright infringing reproductions? Singapore Academy of Law Journal,31 (2019) 125.

Abstract Views: 91

PDF Views: 80




  • The Canadian UGC Exception: An Attempt to Revolutionise Fair Use Defence for User Generated Content

Abstract Views: 91  |  PDF Views: 80

Authors

Niharika Salar
NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad — 500101, India., India

Abstract


Part I of the research paper attempts to introduce the conceptual understanding of user generated content and the copyright issues related to UGC, following which Part II will present a critical analysis of the problems contained in the Fair use defence as enshrined in the United States legislation. Part III of the research paper will try to argue as to why the non-commercial UGC exception as enshrined in Section 29.21 of the Canadian Copyright acts till remains the much-needed answer which UGC has been looking for so long now, along with a few concluding thoughts. Throughout the paper, the author tries to argue that the new exception, namely the non-commercial user generated exception is the much-needed UGC protection with respect to the commercial aspect ofany user created content on online platforms.

Keywords


Intellectual Property, Fair Use Defence, User Generated Content, Copyright Law.

References