Page 211 - 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 7 Platform Users’ Entitlement to UGCs: Human Use and Web Scraping
An Intermediary-oriented Approach

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provided functionality of the Service and as permitted under these Terms of Service’, and
to download the content if a ‘download’ or related link is displayed for that content.
ToUs/ToSs have provided generous safety valves for platform users’ use of UGCs.
Among the 30 UGC platforms in my dataset, 29.63% granted their users a broad licence to
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copy, distribute and even modify the works. For instance, Tumblr grants its subscribers the
following:

…a worldwide, revocable, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable and
non-transferable licence to download, store, view, display, perform,
redistribute and create derivative works of Content solely in
connection with [the subscriber’s] use of, and in strict accordance
with the functionality and restrictions of, the Services (including,
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without limitation, Paid Services, as defined below).

Other platforms at least grant users free access to UGCs as the minimum degree of
entitlement. Some platforms also allow users to ‘use, reproduce, distribute, display and
perform’ UGCs provided that such use is ‘permitted through the functionality of the UGC
platform’s service’. 24
Wikipedia and ccMixter require UGC creators to attach a CC licence to their UGCs,
and Flickr encourages UGC creators to adopt a CC licence by exempting CC-licensed
photos from the 1,000 picture limit for free accounts. Wikipedia even requires the second
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most accommodating type of CC licence: the creative commons attribution-sharealike 3.0
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unported licence (CC BY-SA 3.0). CC BY-SA allows users to ‘copy and redistribute the
material in any medium or format’ and to ‘remix, transform and build upon the material

21 Terms of Service in YouTube (n 17) art 5B.
22 In my dataset, there are 27 UGCs platforms that provide ToUs/ToSs. There are 8 platforms that provide a broad license to use
UGCs for platform users: Quora, Wordpress, CCMixter, Wiki, Overclocked Remix, Kwai, Pinterest, Tumblr.
23 Terms of Service in Tumblr (Last Modified: 2018-05-15), art 6 <https://www.tumblr.com/policy/en/terms-of-service>
accessed 19 May 2019.
24 Terms of Service in AsianFanfics, art 5 <https://www.asianfanfics.com/page/rules> accessed 19 May 2019 (‘You may, to the
extent the Site expressly authorizes you to do so, download or copy the Site Content, and other items displayed on the Site
for download, for personal use only’.)
Terms of Service in YouTube (n 17) art 6C (‘You also hereby grant each user of the Service a non-exclusive license to access
your Content through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such Content as permitted through
the functionality of the Service and under these Terms of Service’);
Terms of Use in SoundCloud, ‘You Use of the Platform’ <https://soundcloud.com/terms-of-use> accessed 19 May 2019
(‘You must not copy, rip or capture, or attempt to copy, rip or capture, any audio Content from the Platform or any part of the
Platform, other than by means of download or store for offline listening in circumstances where the relevant Uploader has
elected to permit downloads or offline listening of the relevant item of Content’.)
25 Chaim Gartenberg, ‘Flickr says Creative Commons Photos Won’t be Subject to its 1,000 Picture Limit’ (The Verge, 8 March
2019) <https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/8/18256478/flickr-creative-commons-photos-free-1000-picture-limit-exempt>
accessed 19 May 2019.
26 Terms of Use in Wikipedia, art 7 <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use/en> accessed 19 May 2019.

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