Watching fragmented films and series: the new and "illegal?" TikTok trend among young people
Times are changing and so is the way in which audiovisuals are consumed today. Young people are turning to social networks to watch audiovisual content. If YouTube used to be the ideal place to watch films without having to pay, now TikTok, the seven-year-old Chinese vertical network, has taken the baton among the public. Mobile phones and tablets are the most convenient and widely used devices for watching films in this way. And it is gaining more and more followers.
One of the questions that immediately arises is to what extent uploading this content is a legal practice. Elisenda Perelló, Senior Associate for intellectual and industrial property at RocaJunyent, believes that "the platform itself in its community rules reminds users that creativity is the strong point of TikTok, so only their own content should be published". It also stresses that TikTok "does not allow content to be posted that infringes other people's intellectual property rights. Furthermore, they warn that if they are made aware that a certain content constitutes an infringement of this type, they will proceed to remove it, unless there is authorisation from the holders of the rights of the audiovisual work, including the rights of the producer". Fragmenting the content "would also be an infringement of intellectual property rights".
Some of the users who upload content distort the material with sound, music or watermarks, in order to pass more unnoticed. Far from avoiding infringement, "you would be transforming a work without the relevant authorisation of the copyright holder," she says.
Access to the full article(available in Spanish)
Published in
