Literary Buzz Or Legal Fuzz? Daiyan Trisha’s Poetry Opens Can Of Worms!

Nukilan Biruni alleged that the Twitter user had violated the Copyright Act by posting the contents of a book on her Twitter feed.

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Twitterjaya is alive with chatter about Daiyan Trisha’s latest poetry book, sparked by a user named thia who posted several excerpts from the collection and her thoughts on the literary work.

Titled “Tulisan” by Daiyan Trisha, a Twitter user known as thia shared several snapshots of a few pages that she snapped at a local bookstore.

tulisan by d****n tr***a is so ass 😭 rupi kaur circa 2018-core but even rupi’s were better than whatever these… “poems” are pic.twitter.com/J7xNKtjl0K
— thia 🐈‍⬛ (@theiafaayhac) May 7, 2024

What began as a casual critique of the book quickly became an intense legal conversation when the book’s publisher had supposedly messaged thia about a potential ‘copyright infringement’.

The publisher, known as Nukilan Biruni alleged that the Twitter user had violated the Copyright Act by posting the contents of the book on her Twitter feed.

“The contents of the book are protected by copyright law. Your post also leads to many misleading impressions,” the publisher said in their message to the thia.

i have also responded to your messages and comment on my instagram 🙂 pic.twitter.com/lisT9Qmv2a
— thia 🐈‍⬛ (@theiafaayhac) May 8, 2024

Thia replied to the message as requested by the publishing house in which she said that she was not profiting from the posting and did not in any way try to pass off the content of the book as hers.

She also mentioned that she did not change the content of the book in the posting. At the end of her reply, she said that her tweets can be considered as a review of the book.

“Imagine my tweets led to her receiving praises for her poems, would this still be seen as a problem?” she asked in her reply.

i have replied – for full transparency everyone here can read it too. pic.twitter.com/W60sdxGCPl
— thia 🐈‍⬛ (@theiafaayhac) May 8, 2024

Copyright Act And Infringement

These back and forth messages between these parties have piqued the curiosity of many who wondered if this was a copyright infringement and many wanted to know how the Copyright Act works.

1. Tang mana dia langgar Copyright Act 1987 ni? Seksyen mana? Buleh clarify? @NukilanBiruni
2. Do you normally DM reviewers for criticising the content of your product that you market it to the mass?
3. Kalau aku kritik your books, you will DM and harass me? Sekadar bertanya
— Saniboey Mohd Ismail (@saniboey) May 8, 2024

copyright infringement… so the whole booktok is doomed?
— noor (@nsy33r4) May 8, 2024

Yes @NukilanBiruni can you please enlighten us about copyright infringement that you’ve mentioned in your dm? Bcs it is very interesting point you have made there. Cheers!
— Caramel (@wostercheshire) May 8, 2024

A lawyer who tweets under @ZackAvaricious said that in no way does reposting the excerpts of a book for non-commercial usage violates the Copyright Act.

He also shared the relevant sections under the Copyright Act which points to the fact that the act of the Twitter user was not an infringement.

Hi, a lawyer here.

Which part of the intellectual property law that has been infringed.

Reposting an excerpt of a book for non commercial use is not, in anyway, constitute a copyright infringement.

Tq. https://t.co/rdZiIrv1vu
— Wolbach Chomusuke🇵🇸 (@ZackAvaricious) May 8, 2024

According to Section 9(4) of the Copyright Act 1987, it is not considered as a copyright infringement if the content of the book is shared for research, private study, criticism, review, or reporting on current events.

Moreover, as long as the title of the work and its author are acknowledged whenever such reproduction is made public, it is acceptable—except in situations in which the work is unintentionally featured in a broadcast.