Member Article

Don't be Trumped by copyright infringement

National law firm Clarke Willmott LLP has warned online users of the dangers of redistributing copyrighted content on social media.

They have warned that taking content from the internet and representing it as your own can open up all kinds of legal actions.

The issue was highlighted when US Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign tweeted a photo from photo sharing site Flickr without permission. Mr Trump’s son tweeted the photo, a jar of Skittles used to illustrate a point about Syrian refugees and terrorism, and the campaign appears to have neglected to confirm with the rights holder, David Kittos, that they had permission to do so.

Mr Kittos, a photographer based in Guildford, UK, would perhaps have been unlikely to have given permission to use the image given the Billionaire businessman’s controversial views, as he himself was a refugee from the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in the 1970s.

Whilst this might not have been unusual in the world of social media, millions of users a day share images, many of them copyrighted and without permission, for a presidential candidate to be embroiled in this sort of controversy has brought image rights issues online into the spotlight.

Whereas Twitter and Facebook force users to give them a ‘royalty free license’ to use content, Flickr puts the power in the hands of the rights holder. Users are asked when uploading an image if they would like to make the image available to all or to retain the rights themselves.

Stuart Farr, partner at law firm Clark Willmott LLP, said: “The spontaneity and very nature of communicating and sharing ideas often means that users are more relaxed about what they say or do online.

“However, this attitude can be risky. Content shared online could cause embarrassment or, in worst cases, give rise to complaint and even legal action, such as defamation.

“Businesses and other users need to be particularly aware that engaging with some social media sites can result in a loss or weakening of their own intellectual property. For instance, rights are often given up when images and content are uploaded to social media accounts.”

Susan Hall, partner in the Intellectual Property team at Clarke Willmott, said: “Mr Kittos’ copyright notice on Flickr would have given users a clear indication that the photograph was not for general use, and should not therefore have been ‘cut and pasted’ for use elsewhere.

“Users should think hard about the consequences before borrowing an image or content online. Even if no legal action is taken, it could result in huge embarrassment, it’s simply best not to risk it.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clarke Willmott .