A webinar with Dr. Hayleigh Bosher including some simple tips and advice

We recently accessed this very helpful and informative webinar, on copyright and social media, held by the 4IP Council and hosted by Dr. Hayleigh Bosher, lecturer at Brunel University and @Ipkat blogger. To view the webinar click here, or read the ACID summary below. Further resources are available via the 4IP Council website; for an informative summary of IP rights click here or to find out how to grow your business by leveraging your IP click here.

The Social Media Landscape – how it’s used

Social media is a relatively new phenomenon; however, we’ve seen significant change across its short lifespan. Whilst we, the users, see the purpose of social media platforms as sharing information and user-generated content with a global reach, platform founders are reaping immense profits from ad-based revenue. Platforms like Twitter can generate upwards of $3.46 billion annually by showing you the products and services of other companies and organisations, and by encouraging you to share more, and engage more, through these platforms, they in turn boost their revenue, in Twitter’s case by an increase of 60%, year on year. With 45% of the world’s population using social media, spending an average of 136 minutes per day on social networks, this kind of income level is unsurprising.

Platform responsibility – are Service Providers doing enough to protect users?

The IPO published a report in 2017 identifying the array of counterfeiting activity which goes on online. The ‘Share and Share Alike’ report identified website impersonation (cloning brand web pages), fan pages (creating fake business pages on Facebook), social media pages transacting business, promotion and the proliferation of websites selling counterfeits and offering fake special offers, in most of which social media plays a substantial, and increasing, role. Evidence from Trading Standards also indicates that the second most common locale for counterfeit investigations was indeed social media platforms.

Copyright – are originators protected enough?

Copyright has a length of term of 70 years plus the life of the originator and covers literary and artistic works, including  photographs, videos and films, giving the rights holder exclusivity in sharing, distributing and publishing the works and the right to stop others doing the same. This territorial law, which can vary by location, presents us with a challenge when using the globally reaching internet. The purpose of copyright is to encourage creativity, original works, and the distribution of culture and information, which it does by allowing the originator to sell or licence their works for payment.

Infringement on Social Media

The popular social media platform; Instagram, has over 95 million photos and videos shared every day, with 40 billion shared since its creation. The social media philosophy of encouraging the sharing of content, created by you and others, boosts the platform’s ad-based revenue and disagrees with the implications of copyright law. Sharing a photo created by someone else, without their permission, is technically a copyright infringement and cases of social media users being pursued, legally, for posting images, are on the rise.

Instagram – ‘We don’t own your content’

Think that you own the content that you post on social media? Think again! Although Kevin Systrom co-founder of Instagram states “Instagram users own their content and Instagram does not claim any ownership rights over your photos”, with their legal terms also stating “You represent and warrant that you own or have secured all right necessary to display, distribute and deliver all content..”, Instagram’s legal terms state “You grant us and our affiliates a non-exclusive, transferable sub-licensable and royalty-free worldwide licence to use any data, content and other information made available by you or on your behalf”.

If you are a creator, it is imperative that you are aware of these terms i.e. if a photographer were to licence an image under an exclusive licence, and then post the image to Instagram, they would be in violation of that licence.

Copyright; Exceptions to the rule

Parody, Education, News reporting, Quotation, Criticism & review, Text & Data mining, Research & private study, Libraries, Archiving, Museums, Disability, Orphan Works (You can pay an orphan works licencing fee to the IPO).

Social Media in Education

Social media and education go hand-in-hand, it can be a great tool and is increasingly used in the classroom and as a means for teaching and learning. Social media can be a conduit for increasing student engagement and communication through open discussion, collaboration and practical learning. As per the list of exceptions above, for educational purposes i.e. teaching or performance in an educational institution, copyright protected content can be used, by teachers and students, without the originator’s permission.  This only applies, however, where a relevant licence is not available, such as an HE licence from the Copyright Licencing Agency, or a licence from the Educational Recording Agency. These exceptions do not apply outside of educational settings, which means in order to commercially exploit works which include copyrighted materials, the protected material would either need to be removed or permission sought from the copyright owners.

Social Media Strategy – some simple tips

The contradiction between the social media sharing culture and copyright law makes it difficult for lawyers to advise their clients, saying “don’t use social media” is not helpful! An effective social media strategy should include the following steps:

• Be vigilant in checking for counterfeit goods and take action if you find them – all platforms have some form of notice and takedown procedure.
• Make sure you communicate with your customers so that they understand what legitimate purchasing options to use i.e. website.
• Be aware that even copyright protected content posted on social media is likely to be shared i.e. photos and videos, decide what you want to share and what you want to keep.
• You risk copyright infringement by sharing content without permission. Sharing content using utilities, such as the Share button (which creates a hyperlink) on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn is less risky. Screen-grabbing and posting – even with acknowledgement – is more risky.
• Using copyright protected content can be allowed under copyright exceptions and institution licencing. Sharing third-party copyright protected content – photos and videos – risks copyright infringement claims.