Case Study: Sara Nadzirah binti Zulkifli v Khirulanuar bin Mohamadiah (2023)

This case seems to be recent, with the rise in popularity of quick platform such as Instagram, and netizens posting without knowledge of copyright infringement.

• What's it about?
  The plaintiff named Sara Nadzirah is a social media influencer. The initial action that sparked the case was of her recording a 51-second video of herself eating durian as a "mukbang" and uploaded it to her Instagram account. The clip/video gain significant attention, as she had a following alongside platform algorithm.​

• Infringement
  The defendant named Khirulanuar was the reason as to why attention went to the video and Sara Nadzirah. He posted her video on his own platform without her permission, Ezydurian Services, as an opportunity to promote his brand over the plaintiff's image of being a small content creator.

• Legal Action
  Sara Nadzirah had demanded Khirulanuar to remove the video off of his brand platform, but he rejected her request. She later filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement against him.​

• Defense and Court's Decision
  Khirulanuar attempted to justify himself claimed his use of the video was a parody, pastiche, or caricature under Section 13(2) of the Copyright Act 1987. The court rejected this defense, as they stated that there was nothing in the video he reposted that included any transformative additions to her video. No commentary or critique over it, no parody, or even any jokes to justify the content he reuploaded.​

• Outcome
  Since it was essentially a copy-paste form of content infringement, the court rules in favor or Sara Nadzirah as her content, despite being viral and available for public viewing, still remained under copyright laws. Use of her content for unauthorized commercial use is a form of infringement.

Even if content uploaded by netizens are for the purpose of entertainment and with the intention of letting it go viral, content creators still have their own rights over their effort, money, and time spent on their content that can generate attention and popularity. By having the content reuploaded in an unauthorized manner, it shifts the attention of viewers; especially newcomers - who are prone to mistakenly associate the content to the infringer, Khirulanuar, who did not put any effort into it, thus possibly shifting revenue, following, and viewership away from the real creator, who is in this case, Sara Nadzirah.