Journal of Shanghai University (Social Science Edition)

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The “Consensus on the Use of Copyrighted Works” and Its Bearing upon the Participatory Culture’s Copyright Environment

  

  • Received:2015-06-05 Online:2016-01-15 Published:2016-01-15

Abstract:  A fundamental conflict between digital participatory culture represented by “user generated content” and the modern copyright regime has been widely acknowledged. However, a comprehensive analysis of the following three aspects, namely, recent legislative initiatives and legal cases in the North American jurisprudence regarding the use of copyrighted works, new marketing strategies and profitmaking modes achieved by moderately relaxing copyright protection in the copyright industry, and the quasicopyright norms spontaneously established by participatory culture practitioners, reveals that there exists a principled consensus of the use of copyrighted work. It provides a new perspective and dimension in creating a congenial copyright environment for the orderly blossoming of participatory culture.
Key words:

Key words:  participatory culture, digital copyright, users&rsquo, rights;, transformative uses, consensus on the use of copyrighted works