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Vanderbilt University Law School

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"Transformative" User-Generated Content In Copyright Law: Infringing Derivative Works Or Fair Use?, Mary W.S. Wong Jan 2009

"Transformative" User-Generated Content In Copyright Law: Infringing Derivative Works Or Fair Use?, Mary W.S. Wong

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In the United States, the line between the type and level of transformation required for a copyrightable derivative work and that required to constitute fair use has not been drawn clearly. With the rise of user-generated content, this question (which arises in two distinct copyright contexts) has become even more important. At the same time, copyright law has generally shied away from defining authorship as a legal concept, preferring instead to develop and rely on the related (but not identical) concept of originality. This has resulted in a low copyrightability threshold that does not adequately account for the fact that …


A Winner Is Who? Fair Use And The Online Distribution Of Manga And Video Game Fan Translations, Jaime E. Muscar Jan 2006

A Winner Is Who? Fair Use And The Online Distribution Of Manga And Video Game Fan Translations, Jaime E. Muscar

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This note examines the legality of fan translations of Japanese comic books, known as manga, and video games distributed over the Internet, with special consideration given to the application of the fair use doctrine. Technology related to the distribution of media online grows exponentially compared to the law governing this technology. Although much recent litigation has limited the online distribution of traditional media, both copyright holders and courts have largely ignored a fringe segment of this distribution. This fringe includes manga and video games. Manga can be easily shared online by scanning images, and video games are now frequently converted …