I got home 10pm last Wednesday, and would probably go home the same time every Wednesdays this semester. A four-hour class can be tiring, so I decided to watch a Korean movie to relax before doing some more schoolwork.
I opened my laptop and checked out YouTube. I watch over youtube some of my favorite movies and TV series (so long as they have not been ordered removed yet).
Videos in youtube are usually ten minutes long. YouTube put up this ten-minute limit because of illegal uploading of full-length movies and TV series episodes,[1] so I watched my movie over twelve-part videos.
After the movie, I decided to watch some music videos (or MVs) starring the actors in the movie I just watched (I just didn’t have enough of the movie), and I chanced upon this music video under which was written “NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED”.
I completely believe that the uploader of the music video did not intend to infringe on the rights of the copyright owners of the movie. Most probably, she intended to make people like me happy.
Unfortunately, copyright infringement does not depend on intent, at least under Philippine law. The Intellectual Property Code[2], which punishes copyright infringement, is a special law. Copyright infringement, being punished by a special law, makes copyright infringement malum prohibitum.[3] No intent is required in order that a person be punished for copyright infringement.
Under the circumstances, the copyright owner has a case against the uploader in case the former pursues the case. A different question, of course, is can he pursue it? Can he track the uploader? Will youtube divulge the uploader’s personal details? These questions are what I hope our law can address – effective enforcement of intellectual property law in cyberworld. For now, I would have to go through one semester of Law and ICT before I can get a solid answer to these questions.
Before posting this entry, I intended to include a screenshot of the movie. How quickly I forget what I just wrote about.
1 comment:
why not indeed upload a picture? fair(academic) use exception, di ba?
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