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User Generated Content (ugc) Website Copyright Problems And Coping Strategies Are Discussed

Posted on:2013-04-07Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:L LuFull Text:PDF
GTID:2246330395950057Subject:Civil and Commercial Law
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In recent years, with the rapid development and popularization of the Internet, the participative Web2.0is nothing new now and the User-Generated Content (UGC), as the core of Web2.0, has turned the21st century into the times in which everyone can create his/her own webpage content. At the same time, based on the UGC, the emerging UGC platforms have become an integral part in the Internet industry and even all industries. However, the UGC platforms are facing increasingly serious problem of copyright infringement since the end users keep posting the infringing content on UGC platforms. That the business models employed by UGC platforms facilitate the misappropriation of copyrighted content also enrages the copyright owners. In addition, the legal system of network copyright protection shall handle the reconfiguration of rights and obligations and the balance of status and interests between the copyright owners and UGC platforms. Besides, the copyright owners and UGC platforms themselves also make efforts to avoid copyright disputes and seek win-win situations by creating a new legal system, signing one-on-one copyright license agreements and developing new business models to promote the cooperation between copyright owners and UGC platforms.This article briefly describes an overview of User-Generated Content and UGC sites, discusses the subjective fault standards of indirect infringement liability in China, introduces the American Stop Online Piracy Act and the influence of Safe Harbor principle, and makes comments on the creation of copyright license agreement between copyright owners and UGC sites as well as the solution of the future development of mutual cooperation. Through the study of existing system, statistical analysis, comparative assessment of provisions and the copyright license agreements, I have proceeded from the positivist point of view to do a simple research regarding the above topics. This article is divided into a total of four sections:The first chapter is the general introduction of User-Generated Content (UGC) and UGC sites. The itemized analysis of the characteristics of User-generated Content (UGC) clarifies what kind of content is the User-Generated Content in the strict sense and User-Generated Content classification and enumeration. In addition, through a research on characteristics of UGC platforms, this chapter divides UGC sites into seven main types and assesses the risk of infringement of copyright for different types of UGC sites. Finally, by introducing the traditional business models of UGC sites and a new PMC business model, this chapter simply mentions some copyright dispute settlements regarding the UGC sites in the process of business model transformation.The second chapter discusses the legal issues and the copyright infringement liability faced by the UGC site. In particular, it analyzes the settings of the service agreement terms regarding UGC sites and the subjective fault standards of indirect copyright Infringement. In addition to copyright, the legal issues involved in UGC sites also include trademark, freedom of speech, privacy and network public opinion monitoring. Through the combination of the features of the tort of UGC sites, the provisions of China’s laws and regulations on tort liability and copyright litigation strategy, this chapter clarifies the standards of the indirect copyright infringement liability regarding "knowingly" and "should have known". By contrast the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Regulation on Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information of China and the Notice Sample from the Chinese National Copyright Administration, this chapter compares the similarities and differences of "take-down-notice" procedures from the following aspects:the identity of the right holders of copyright, the information of the copyrighted works, the evidential materials and other information, and proposes an operational standards of "take-down" notice in China.The third chapter gives a brief introduction on the background of American Stop Online Piracy Act, focusing on the assessment of key provisions and impact on the Internet World. Stop Online Piracy Act is the latest legislative acts of UGC sites, and its significant impact on the U.S. network copyright system is that it is possible to bypass the principle of "safe harbor" and make a comprehensive adjustment of the rules of survival of the UGC sites from a legal perspective. This chapter gives a detailed study on the key provisions of Stop Online Piracy Act from the following aspects: law-executor, object of law enforcement, right holders, obligors, the main content of the rights, the main content of the obligations, the conditions of exemption as well as counter-notice and makes the appropriate assessment and recommendations for UGC sites. The fourth chapter studies the Game of the rights and obligations, as well as the balance of interests between copyright owners and UGC sites, and bilateral cooperation in the future of online copyright strategies on the basis of the copyright license agreements signed by the copyright owners and UGC sites. In particular, it focuses on the terms of anti-piracy requirements and take down and monitoring service in the license agreements and makes technical analysis and recommendations on the configuration of the rights and obligations of both sides and protocol framework for the license agreements. Copyright owners and UGC sites shall cooperate with each other with an open mind in one-on-one agreement arrangements, legislative proposals, as well as economic benefits in order to make the maximum benefits and ultimately win-win.
Keywords/Search Tags:User-Generated Content, indirect infringement liability, safe harborprinciple, copyright license agreement
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