User freedom from copyrights on the global content-sharing platforms

Abstract

When you think about the amount of memes, parodies, GIFs and other user-created (or further created) content available on global online platforms such as YouTube, you would not even assume that a large part of it was illegally created or uploaded. But they are. This fact has gained even more significance in the context of the EU copyright reform. Article 17 of the CDSM Directive, adopted as part of the reform, stipulates that these platforms must obtain licences from copyright holders for content uploaded by their users – content that has been viewed billions of times and which, of course, generates billions in advertising revenue for the platforms. And if either they or the rightholders do not wish to do so for the content in question, the platforms must actively ensure that this content is not made available on their platforms, essentially by filtering it. Yet, in some cases access to this content is not illegal at all, and according to some views it is to be considered an exercise of the rights of users. This brings us to the exceptions and limitations to copyright, which are intended to safeguard freedom of expression and which therefore bacame compulsory for all Member States to introduce by the CDSM Directive, in order to balance the new platform rules. After a brief introduction to the background and provisions of Article 17 of the CDSM Directive, the paper deals with the international, EU and national context in which these exceptions and limitations apply. Afterwards, it examines in more depth the practical scope of quotation, uses for the purpose of review and criticism, as well as caricature, parody and pastiche in the platform context. The study compares these free use cases with the specific types of content and typical uses carried on such platforms and assesses them from a legal perspective as well.