Copyright and Fair Use in Social Media [Updated]

Posted by Matt Singley on September 21, 2009 under Technology | 81 Comments to Read

copyright

UPDATE: It seems that the artist in question, Lily Allen, has deleted her anti-piracy blog after getting too much heat about areas she had infringed upon copyright laws.  For a complete update, check out this article on TorrentFreak.

Two interesting items came to my attention today, both related to copyright issues on blogs and/or websites.   One relates to a new company formation using the acronym of a larger (but unrelated) organization in their name and website, the other is the seemingly hypocritical case of a musician that steals blog material to make a point about musical piracy.  After exploring both of these at great length, it became clear to me that most people (myself included) don’t fully understand copyright usage as it pertains to online publications.  I’m going to post some thoughts here, but please understand that I am not an attorney, so this is not legal advice.  Consider this your daily dose of common sense in social media.

People are finding the ability to communicate ideas and media quickly through blogs, Twitter and other social media streams wonderful…it’s hard not to.  In just a few seconds, the thoughts rattling around your head can be transmitted to any number of people, sometimes to a very large audience.  Given the ease of publication, and also the ease of copying information from other people’s sites, I think it’s often tempting to put up a quick post, tweet or picture that doesn’t belong to you without given proper credit.  Sometimes “borrowing” material from another source isn’t done intentionally, sometimes it is.

Lily AllenI was shocked to find out that well known musician Lily Allen violated copyright rules on a recent blog post of hers.  What makes this common practice a story worth noting is that she took material from another site word for word without giving credit or linking over for the sole purpose of complaining about theft of services in the music industry! What irony…to complain about stealing material by stealing material!  The site that had their post blatantly ripped off was very gracious about it, giving Ms. Allen written permission to use their work, even though she never asked. I love the tongue in cheek question posed by the site in question,TechDirt, “By the way, does this mean we can post her music to our site without crediting her now, too?”

I certainly hope that Ms. Allen has a good PR team behind her, monitoring the social media space so that she can do the right thing and correct her post.  In case they are reading this post, I offer these tips in knowing when and how to give attribution when necessary.

  1. If you didn’t write, record, photograph or design it, it’s not yours.  Sometimes the most difficult truths to adhere to are those that are the most obvious.  I don’t think there is much more that I need to say on this point…if you didn’t create it, then you need to give proper recognition.
  2. If you’re going to quote a source, use small pieces. The Copyright Act says that “fair use…for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”  Although most of what I write on my blog is original, I do sometimes pull from other sources.  When I do, I try to pull as little as possible and still be able to make my point.
  3. common creativeGet to know Creative Commons. I have a disclaimer on the right side of my blog that says “Some Rights Reserved” with a brief explanation and links to what it all means.  In other words, I am giving blanket permission to anybody and everybody to use material that I write, with some restriction.  I ask that they do not alter what I write, and I ask that they give credit to me.  Other than that, have at it…with my site. If you want to easily create similar HTML code for your site, go here.  If you come across a site that you would like to pull material from, ask them.  Most people are surprisingly gracious with this, and I would imagine that if a celebrity like Ms. Allen were to ask somebody for permission to reprint them, they would be happy to allow it.
  4. Link, link, link! It’s pretty rare that I will write a post without a link.  I do this for two reasons: first, to add value to my readers so they can explore an article or subject more if they chose, and second to make sure that I am giving credit where credit is due.  Do us all a favor, when you quote or reference a person or site, try to add a link.
  5. Educate yourself if you’re going to be snarky. I announced earlier today that I let two domains lapse, one called atandtblows.com, the other attiscrappy.com.  Under trademark laws, people are allowed to own and operate sites like that as long as it is a non-misleading site.  In other words, nobody is going to think that AT&T actually owns, operates or condones anything at those URLs.  Using a company name or even referencing another person or organization in a not-so-flattering manner can get you in trouble quickly. I found this page to be lengthy but well written; it will teach you a lot.  Did you know that there is a legal difference between a parody, a satire and a joke?
  6. When in doubt, skip it. Honestly, this is the best advice I can give.  If you want to use some material but aren’t sure if it’s okay for whatever reason (the site’s terms are unclear, you can’t contact the owner, etc.) then it’s just not worth it.  Posting someone’s photo or thought may seem innocent enough, and the reality is you probably won’t get caught unless you have a really popular site, but in this day and age of sue-first-ask-questions-later (really interesting story by the way, click thru if you have time) only one thing is certain: people are lawsuit happy, and in the end only the attorneys are going to win.

I’m no saint, and I’m sure that I’ve violated these rules many times without meaning to…you probably have as well.  With just the smallest bit of education however, I think most copyright and trademark lawsuits can be avoided; so take the time to consider what you are writing before you hit the “publish” button.  For a really comprehensive write-up about these issues and a few more check out this page, it’s a great resource that answers a lot of questions for bloggers and others in social media.

Photo credit: Neil365 , used under Creative Commons license

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