Addressing Ambiguities in The Copyright Act Of 1957 Relating to The Ownership Of UGC In Social Media
By Shreya Sampath Kumar, School of Law, Christ University.*
Abstract
UGC production has grown substantially since its debut in 2005. This massive new trend that lets consumers actively participate in the publication of information opens up a lot of fascinating prospects. However, it also provides avenues to indulge in large-scale infringing activity. Major obstacles to the continued growth of UGC include issues of eradicating infringing content. Who should be contacted in a complex system with several actors when infringing content is discovered online? Who could be held accountable for harm caused as a result of this? In contrasting the roles of established actors in the information value chain and new intermediaries, on the one hand, and normative definitions and underlying justifications of current liability models, on the other, this study seeks to analyse the conceptual foundation for legal liability for UGC through Sections 52(b) of the Copyright Act, 1957. The goal of the study is to develop some suggestions in anticipation of a more precise determination of the extent of new UGC owners' legal culpability for infringing content published through their platforms.
Keywords: Copyright, User-Generated Content, Infringement, Section 52(b), Copyright Act, 1957.
* The author is a third-year Law student pursuing B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from, School of Law, Christ University, Bangalore.
