Page 169 - A Study on the Role of UGC Platforms in Copyright Law：An Intermediary-oriented Approach

A Study on the Role of UGC Platforms in Copyright Law: Chapter 6 UGC Platforms’ Entitlement to UGCs
An Intermediary-oriented Approach

Chapter 6 UGC Platforms’ Entitlement

to UGCs

6.1 Introduction: A UGC Platform as a Quasi-producer of UGCs

Due to the zero-marginal-cost of producing content in the UGC age, we are surrounded
by abundant online information. Yet we have limited time to consume it. The majority of
UGCs do not attract much attention and do not conflict with the normal exploitation of
copyrighted works. Accordingly, they could be covered by levy schemes rather than the
proprietary copyright regime. This was addressed at length in Chapters 4 and 5. The purpose
of the proposed levy schemes is to protect the creation of UGCs based on pre-existing
works, which do not interfere with the normal exploitation of the pre-existing works, from
the chilling effect of copyright infringement. The premise of the levy schemes is that UGC
platforms serve as the facilitator-distributors of the pre-existing works contained in UGCs.
This chapter and the next chapter investigate the tension between the scarcity of
attention to UGCs and the overabundance of UGCs from another angle. It highlights the
the role of UGC platforms as quasi-producers of UGCs in promoting UGCs and saving
the information costs for users. For instance, UGC platforms have provided dependable
1
distribution channels, prioritised and recommended content according to the audience’s
2
3
individual preferences, inserted targeted advertisements, and developed a range of ways to
monetise UGCs and commercialise the traffic. UGC platforms have also earned great profits
4
from UGCs. Facebook reached an annual revenue of US$55.8 billion in 2018, an increase of
37.35% from 2017. With 400 hours of video uploaded every minute, YouTube was valued
5
at US$160 billion in 2018 which is 97 times the US$1.65 billion that Google paid for it in

1 For example, Amazon promote amateur-written-books by helping these writers to self-publish kindle-formatted books.
‘Amazon Collaborates with Writers who Use Kindles to Self-Publish Kindle-Formatted Books’ (Amazon) < https://kdp.
amazon.com/en_US/> accessed 19 May 2019.
2 For example, ‘35% of Amazon.com’s revenue is generated by its recommendation engine.’ Rejoiner, ‘The Amazon
Recommendations Secret to Selling More Online’ <http://rejoiner.com/resources/amazon-recommendations-secret-selling-
online/> accessed 19 May 2019.
3 Joes Angelo Gallegos, ‘How and Why You Should Leverage UGCs in Your Facebook Ad Campaigns’ (TINT, 27 November
2017) <https://www.tintup.com/blog/leverage-ugc-facebook-ad-campaigns/> accessed 19 May 2019.
4 Tint, ‘Everything You Need to Know About Monetizing User-Generated Content’ <https://www.tintup.com/blog/user-
generated-content-monetization/> accessed 5 October 2019.
5 Statistica, ‘Facebook's Annual Revenue from 2009 to 2018 (in million U.S. dollars)’ <https://www.statista.com/
statistics/268604/annual-revenue-of-facebook/> accessed 19 May 2019.

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