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Tan, David --- "Fair use and transformative play in the digital age" [2017] ELECD 298; in Richardson, Megan; Ricketson, Sam (eds), "Research Handbook on Intellectual Property in Media and Entertainment" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 102

Book Title: Research Handbook on Intellectual Property in Media and Entertainment

Editor(s): Richardson, Megan; Ricketson, Sam

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784710781

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: Fair use and transformative play in the digital age

Author(s): Tan, David

Number of pages: 30

Abstract/Description:

The digital age, characterized by a proliferation of myriad platforms on the internet that inform, educate, entertain, ridicule, promulgate ideologies, sell products and connect communities of individuals, is a boon as much as a bane to contemporary society. Love them or loathe them, internet search engines and social networking sites are here to stay. While governments fret over how they might regulate child pornography, tackle cyberbullying and eliminate terrorism-related propaganda on the internet, other individuals are able to engage in active cultural participation, self-expression and community building. Internet search engines such as Google allow the individual access to information within a few clicks and in seconds, but such services potentially infringe intellectual property rights (‘IPRs’). Other social networks such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram invite fans and other consumers to share writings, photographs and videos, but do these postings qualify as fair use of the original copyrighted works? In her recent study of four predominant social media sites – Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Wikipedia – Corinne Tan argues that by virtue of the technological features on all four sites, there are ‘multiple possibilities for a user to indulge in generative behaviours, such as the creation, modification and dissemination of content’. Moreover, the fact that such activities ‘can be easily undertaken on [these] sites exposes users to higher risks of copyright infringement … [and] the technological features “nudge” users to behave in certain ways’ that violate the exclusive rights of copyright holders.