status-update
1 May 2014

Status update: 'feeling copied'

Social media feature highly in many people’s lives, providing an exciting way to communicate with friends or a practical means to share daily experiences and information. But for IP right owners, the thought of their content being shared and copied by potentially millions of people within seconds can be enough to strike fear into their hearts.

On Twitter and Facebook, the two most popular social media platforms, content via tweets and status updates can be shared far beyond the scope of immediate friends and followers.

As Leighton Cassidy, partner at Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, says, protecting rights on social media can be a “double-edged sword”.

“The viral nature of social media platforms means that content can be shared at such a speed that it can be impossible to rein it in before it is too late,” Cassidy says.

Ownership

While enforcing rights on social media can be tricky, it is first interesting to consider what can be protected by IP on these platforms.

Mitchell Stabbe, partner at Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP in Washington, DC, says posting a photograph on social media does not usually mean the owner will lose the ability to protect it and act against infringement.

But there are some circumstances where rights can be waived, he says. Stabbe says that the terms of service (ToS) of a social media platform often say that by posting a photograph you are giving the website the permission to copy or share it.

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