Page 38 - 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 2 Copyright in the Pre-Internet Age: An Intermediary-oriented Approach
An Intermediary-oriented Approach

production and distribution from a social politically-driven, self-regulated activity into a
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lucrative, vigorously disputed business demanding external regulatory mechanisms. As a
result, copyright law has been called the child of modern printing technology, a theme to
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which other scholars have given thorough consideration. Here I would like to articulate that
copyright law grew out of the publishing intermediary’s demand for protection against free
riding. In turn, the publishing intermediary’s internal financing and cross subsidisation, and
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the economies of scale of the publishing industry, ensured that cultural creations could be
mass produced and widely distributed, fulfilling the purpose of copyright law: to promote
cultural progress.
1) Calling for a publishing industry: Cultural creation as mass-produced commodities
As discussed above, a significant transition from the oral to the scribal culture took
place when the ‘liquid’ spoken word was transformed into ‘linear’, ‘structured’ visual
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codes, thereby facilitating the transmission of cultural creations. However, the high cost
of transcription prevented large-scale cultural production and widespread dissemination.
th
This fundamentally changed in the mid-15 century when Johannes Gutenberg invented
th
the modern printing press in Mainz, Germany. By the end of the 15 century, it had become
popular throughout Europe, permanently altering the way cultural products were created
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and distributed. By translating open, flowing dialogue into a closed, fixed and calculable
article, printing technology ensured the uniformity and reproduction of cultural products,
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which could now be mass produced. Apart from the decreasing cost of copying, the
availability and portability of the printed material (i.e. paper) further ensured the broad range
and widespread circulation of cultural products. Consumers in the printing age could buy
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a book at the local bookstore instead of waiting several months for a book to come from
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another place, as had previously been the case.
Although printing press technologically enabled the mass production and wide
distribution of cultural products, economies of scale could only be achieved after the
considerable amount of upfront investment could be recaptured. Unlike manuscripts, the
cost of which could be recovered each time one was sold, printed books called for massive
investment in advance, including without limitation, purchasing facilities and equipment

35 Hesse (n 19) 31.
36 McLuhan (n 16) 169; Paul Goldstein, Copyright's Highway: From Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox (Stanford University
Press 2003) 21; Boyle (n 4) 40; Peter S. Menell, ‘Envisioning Copyright Law's Digital Future’ (2002) 46 New York Law
School Law Review 63, 64.
37 See infra notes 85-86 and accompanying text.
38 See supra note 22.
39 History, ‘Printing Press’ (7 May 2018) <https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press> accessed 28 June 2019.
40 McLuhan (n 16) 124.
41 Standage (n 23) 39.
42 McLuhan (n 16) 132 citing Ernst Philip Goldschmidt, Medieval Texts and Their First Appearance in Print (Biblo & Tannen
Publishers 1943) 90.

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