Page 280 - 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: Appendix 4 Interview Record (Participant C)
An Intermediary-oriented Approach

Huang: Cool. Brotherhood.

Huang: Do you guys have other employments? I mean, is the WeChat account just a hobby
rather than a job?
Participant C: Operating this account is our full-time job. We are sponsored by a company.
Huang: Awesome! So it is kind of the Graduate Enterprise Programme?
Participant C: HHH, you must be kidding. We have been graduated for a few years.
Huang: Super cool! Many of my interviewees are self-funded. You must have a long term
plan. If you don’t mind me asking, how do you promote your account? Besides, have
you considered the risks of copyright infringement? It’s true your unauthorized use can
be tolerated due to your limited influence right now. However, when your account grows
into a big name such as AmoGood, you may have the risk of being charged.
Participant C: Actually we have considered the risk. But I think when we are popular enough
to gain copyright holders’ attention, we can probably deal with these issues. For the
current stage, we’d better go ahead and do it.

Huang: Do you mind if I ask your plan for promoting the account? In other words, what’s
your specialty compared to AmoGood’s?
Participant C: Our point is parodying classic movies in one minute.
Huang: Parody. So how do you get the movie source?
Participant C: From the Internet.
Huang: But what if they are still not available online?
Participant C: For hot movies, we will contact with the movie company at the outset.
However, considered the time-intensiveness characteristics of film industry, most often
the movie will lose its popularity during the negotiation.
Huang: That means, you can get the movies with a low price, or just for free? After all, you
are making free advertisement for them.
Participant C: I think we can get them for free only when our account is popular enough. At
this current stage, we will negotiate the movie companies in the name of our company.
Huang: It’s also free, right?
Participant C: Yes. Generally, a proposal that needs money for the source material will not be
approved by our company.
Huang: Will the movie companies worry about the parody? We all know how Kaige
Participant C hated Ge Hu who created A Murder Caused by a Steamed Bread parodying
Participant C’s movie The Promise.
Participant C: In most cases they don’t mind our parody, as long as it does not go too far.
After all, it’s a form of acknowledgement and salute.

Huang: How do you contact the movie companies? By email, mail, or telephone? Can you

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