COPYRIGHT OF POSTS ON FACEBOOK

COPYRIGHT OF POSTS ON FACEBOOK

With conventional works such as books, plays, films, and theater, the copyright process has become fairly easy. But with the emergence of the internet, copyright is slightly more complicated. For instance, to avoid copyright, trademark, and libel problems, users must be mindful of what they post. And one needs to make sure that they have a copyright or find public domain images before you use an image on the internet. In particular, this article looks at Facebook and its copyright policies.

Copyrights cover "original works of authorship." It is possible to copyright only those types of works that fall under the copyright law criteria. Blogs, screen displays, social media messages, short online documents, apps, images, and website material are examples of digital content that can be copyrighted.

The easiest way to avoid the appropriation of intellectual property on Facebook is not to put it up there in the first place. Even if you own the content you put on one of these social media platforms, you have given the media platform a permission to use the content and to access it for others. Include a copyright declaration on the picture file to protect the content. And be mindful that anyone not affiliated with the Facebook page may appropriate your property. To keep track of potential violations and be quick to file complaints, one must be careful. They will not be able to defend their allegations in a lawsuit if they are not careful. Using a method called a DMCA take down notice is the safest way to file a lawsuit. This method helps one to submit the notice to the website's ISP (web host) in a particular format that they think is in breach of your copyright. The ISP removes and notifies the website owner of the offending copy. A counter-notice can be sent by the owner, and they may determine what to do from there. To ensure that everything goes right, it is imperative to get legal help.

Social networking, such as Facebook allow content that could be copyrighted to be shared online. The work that has been shared on their site is not owned by the social media site; the owner still holds the copyright. But the user must sign an agreement that gives the site a permission to use the work for a number of purposes, such as showing it, adapting it, or copying it, by agreeing to publish works on the site. In these cases, without charge, the license is issued.

The Facebook Terms of Service state that the user of Facebook retains the intellectual property rights of the content you create and post on Facebook and other Facebook products, including copyrights or trademarks. Any time they choose, the user can share content with someone else. In return, they must agree to grant them a license to use the content, Facebook says. In particular, the user grants a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensee, royalty-free, worldwide license to Facebook for the purpose of hosting, using, distributing, altering, operating, copying, publicly displaying, translating, and producing derivative works of its content. All content is removed when a user leaves Facebook.

Under the Terms of Service and Community Standards of Facebook, one can only post content to Facebook that does not compromise the intellectual property rights of anyone else. The easiest way to ensure that Facebook posts do not breach copyright law is to only post your own generated content. It is possible to violate the copyright of someone else when the user shares their material on Facebook, Even if the material was bought or downloaded (e.g. a song from spotify), the content was captured on your own recording device (e.g. a song playing in the background during a party, festival, sporting event, wedding, etc.), thanked the copyright owner, included a disclaimer stating you did not intend to infringe copyright, did not intend to benefit from it, changed the work or added your own original work, or even if they think that it is fair use.

Before uploading material on Facebook, it's usually a good idea to get written permission from the author of the work. If the user has received permission from them, such as by acquiring a license, they will be able to use someone else's content on Facebook. If it's in the public domain, is protected by fair use, or there is another exemption to copyright, they might even be allowed to use someone else's work.

For the average person with a Facebook account, you might find one of your friends making a post every few months to persuade you to share a long paragraph of words that are alleged to prevent Facebook from taking away all your rights. Your rights to the law and the terms you signed up to when establishing your account, of course, determine your rights and responsibilities to use your account.

As with most of your Facebook privileges and responsibilities, your IP rights are set out in the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (SRR).

The SRR of Facebook explains that all the material and information you post on Facebook is yours. In particular, you grant Facebook a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensee, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP that you post on Facebook for your images and videos, while you maintain your copyright. As long as you have a Facebook account, or until you uninstall the content from Facebook, the license continues. You are allowing Facebook to exercise some of the same rights as you, the copyright owner, by issuing a license. This does not stop you from exercising your rights, which means that you are also allowing your IP to be used by Facebook.

The owner of the IP will typically be the creator of that work, or the person who obtained the rights of the creator. Depending on the conditions of the license, the difference between what an owner can do with their IP and what a license holder can do. You grant Facebook the right to use the IP in your content published on Facebook under the Facebook SRR and allow Facebook to pass the rights to someone else or allow a third party to use your IP the same way your IP can be used by Facebook. This privilege is not paid for by Facebook and your IP can be used anywhere in the world. Licensing is about giving Facebook some of the same privileges you have. What Facebook doesn't get is the right to say they've made the job, which can only be achieved by the founder.

The "content" referred to under the SRR of Facebook is the content you share on your account.

It is necessary to remember that it does not inherently mean that you own the intellectual property of that material only because you posted it. You may violate the intellectual property rights of someone else if you post material that belongs to someone else and you do not have a right to do so, or you do not acknowledge the author.

Therefore one should be very careful while posting on social media sites like Facebook in order to avoid getting their own work infringed, or the fear of violating other peoples copyright.

BY:-

RAKSHA SINGHAL