Page 133 - A Study on the Role of UGC Platforms in Copyright Law：An Intermediary-oriented Approach

Chapter 5 Formulating a Non-commercial UGC Creation Levy Scheme

Chapter 5 Formulating a Non-commercial

UGC Creation Levy Scheme

5.1 Introduction

With the increasing popularity of UGCs based on the power of peer distribution in the
network, UGCs have begun to attract copyright owners’ attention. For example, a German
blog, Geeksisters, was sued by Getty Images for using the famous ‘Socially Awkward
Penguin’ meme on their website. A US blogger, Andy Baio, received a cease and desist
1
letter requiring him to pay US$175,000 in settlement because he posted an eight bit tribute to
2
Miles Davis’ ‘Kind Of Blue’. A fan of Harry Potter was taken to court by Warner Brothers
and JK Rowling for publishing a book version of Harry Potter Lexicon, a free Harry Potter
3
encyclopaedia. A Taiwan-based YouTuber, AmoGood, was threatened with lawsuits by local
4
studios for making short movie recap videos.
The chilling effect of copyright law has had an even more negative impact on average,
non-commercial UGC creators than on creators of popular UGCs. In the last five years,
5
copyright owners have shifted their target from start-up artists to ordinary Internet users.
Suing high-profile UGC creators would easily attract the attention of the Electronic Frontier
6
Foundation and would possibly derogate the public image of copyright owners. Whereas,
ordinary users do not have experience in dealing with case-and-desist letters. They are
expected to pay the required money to settle down the issue rather than taking the litigation
7
cost. Therefore, Guilda Rostama, a consultant for WIPO, called the legal uncertainty of
UGC creation ‘the source of a great deal of frustration among members of the public’. 8
9
The legal framework governing UGC creation is still evolving, which has attracted

1 Mark Frauenfelder ‘Getty Charges Blog $868 for Socially Awkward Penguin Meme Images, Demands Silence’ (Boing Boing,
4 September 2015) <https://boingboing.net/2015/09/04/getty-charges-blog-868-for-so.html> accessed 28 May 2019.
2 Benjamin Jackson, ‘Why Remix Culture Needs New Copyright Laws’ (BuzzFeed News, 24 October 2012) <https://www.
buzzfeednews.com/article/benjaminj4/why-remix-culture-needs-new-copyright-laws> accessed 28 May 2019.
3 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. and J. K. Rowling v. RDR Books, 575 F.Supp.2d 513 (SDNY 2008).
4 Yi Shu NG, ‘YouTuber Faces Jail Time for His Movie Parodies, as Angry Studios Say His Videos Hurt Sales’ (Mashable
Asia, 28 April 2017) <https://mashable.com/2017/04/28/taiwanese-youtuber-amogood/> accessed 28 May 2019.
5 Jackson (n 2).
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Guilda Rostama, ‘Remix Culture and Amateur Creativity: A Copyright Dilemma’ [2015] WIPO Magazine 22, 22.
9 See notes 44-54 in Introduction and accompanying text.

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