Rights and Interests in the Digital Age of Copyright: User-Generated Content and the Challenges it Presents to Fair Dealing

Abstract

This paper concerns the relationships between three important groups within the realm of copyright – authors, copyright owners, and users. The rights which users and copyright owners receive through the law of copyright must be tempered by limited exceptions which provide for the advancement of knowledge, information and creativity. In the digital age however, the balance between rights and limitations has been challenged. The aim of this paper is to identify what issues have arisen through the onset of the digital age and how the law can react to the challenges presented to the current system; specifically, to the fair dealing doctrine. The focus of this paper is on one of the major products of the digital age: User-Generated Content. This concept shall be defined and discussed with regards to the rights of authors and copyright owners and the interests of users. The proliferation of user-generated content throughout the world has put a strain on the copyright laws of many jurisdictions. Some have adapted in order to keep up with these changes. Others, like New Zealand, have remained constant, rigid and inflexible. The overall argument in this paper is that there needs to be some form of expansion of the fair dealing doctrine in New Zealand to account for, and react to, the advancements in technology and uses, such as user-generated content, that have come about through the onset of the digital age. The balance between rights and limitations is an important one to maintain. If maintaining that balance means adapting to changing circumstances, then change must be embraced. New Zealand must keep up with the development of technology or risk being left behind.