Copyright on the Internet: How to Use Others' Content and Protect Yours

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

How to legally use someone else's content in social networks and mailings and what to do if someone takes your pictures, gifs or texts without asking.

What is copyright?

All pictures, gifs, videos, music and texts that you find on the Internet have an author. The author automatically owns the rights to the object he created, and these rights are protected by law. This means you can't just take a cool picture and insert it into your post or mailing list - you need permission from the author.

Copyright is divided into two types: property and non-property. According to moral rights, the author decides how to name his work and how to subscribe to it, publish it or not. But we are more interested in property law - to use this work for our own purposes, including for making money.

What you need to know about commercial and non-commercial content use?

If the material will be in an advertisement for a product, service or company, this is a commercial use. The same applies to sites with a paid subscription, where you have to pay to access the content, and to groups in social networks, where there is advertising for products or prices. In this case, it is better to either create your own text and illustrations, or buy them officially. Everything is logical: the content is profitable, so it must be paid for.

Non-commercial use is when the content doesn't make money. For example, if you are sending a newsletter with a review of the best smartphones of 2018, this is not commerce. And if you add "Buy" buttons to this mailing list, which lead to the store, then this is already an advertisement for goods. Accordingly, commercial use.

For non-commercial use, things are a little easier. There are many images in photo banks that can be used for non-commercial purposes. Many authors, especially non-professionals, allow their work to be used if you just credit the authorship and provide a link to their site.

What is the threat of copyright infringement?

If the author finds out that you have used his work, then at least he will demand to remove it from your resources, and maybe even sue. Usually sued if the content is used commercially. Most often - with large companies.

Of course, usually authors don't surf the Internet all day long in search of their stolen works, but you can still get caught. As a result, it will be more expensive to pay compensation by court order than to honestly buy a picture.

How do you know if you can take an image?

Even if the author of the image is not listed, he still exists, and his work is protected by copyright. If you indicate the author when publishing, it is still a violation of the law, because you take his work without permission.

You should always check if a picture is copyrighted and under what conditions you can use it. You can even do this through Google using an image search.

We go to the "Pictures" section. A camera icon will appear in the search bar, click on it

We get a search box where we upload a picture or a link to a file

The original photo will most likely be in good resolution, so select large images in the search results

Go to the sites where these images are located and see how the author is listed there. Now all that remains is to find his page on the Web and see if there are conditions for using the works

What is a license and how does it work?

Most of the content on the Web can be used on predefined terms. These conditions are spelled out in the license - the agreement for the use of content. This agreement is open, it does not need to be concluded and signed on both sides. You simply study the license terms and comply with them when using images and other media.

License terms can be posted on the site from where you get the content. For example, the media often write: "When copying materials, a hyperlink to the source is required." In this case, you have the right to copy the text if you supplement it with an active link to the source site.

Here is a list of licenses used to denote copyright and terms of use for texts, videos, photos and music:

• CC (Creative Commons) - for any content, including software.
• GNU FDL (Free Documentation License) - for documents, encyclopedias, dictionaries.
• DSL (Design Science License) - for any content, including software. It almost ceased to be used with the advent of Creative Commons.
• Free Art License (License Art Libre) - for any artwork.

Creative Commons is the most popular license. It is often used by photographers and designers, writers and programmers. There are several subspecies of licenses with a different set of conditions: for example, refer to the author, use the work only in its unchanged form or only on non-commercial terms, and more. The most suitable license is CC0, that is, the work is completely free of copyright.

How to negotiate with the author?

Write a letter to the author. Tell us for what purposes you are going to use his creation, and ask under what conditions he will allow you to do so.

The agreement with the author can be oral or written. If you are afraid that the author will start making claims after publication, then it is better to conclude a contract in writing. This will make it easier to prove that you published the work strictly within the framework of the agreement.

It is necessary to take into account the nuances:

• Who owns the property rights to the object. Maybe the author has already sold them to some company and you need to negotiate with her.
• What exactly do you want to do with the content. This should be clearly stated in the contract. Whether you are going to use it for commercial or non-commercial purposes, publish the original, or modify it in some way - all this must be indicated.

All the same points must be included in the contract if you hire a photographer or designer.

The cafe agreed with a food photographer to shoot dishes from the menu. The photographer included the terms in the contract: indicate his authorship and use the finished photos unchanged. It seemed to the customer that the result was not appetizing enough. He turned up the contrast in a photo editor on his own, and made a collage from the result.

The photographer saw the published collage and filed a lawsuit against the cafe. He won because the terms of the contract were violated.

How to use pictures legally and where to get them?

Create yourself

It's easy when you have a photographer or designer on staff. There are also services for creating pictures with ready-made templates for non-designers: Canva, Piktochart, BeFunky and many others. You can hire a freelance specialist - just do not forget to conclude an agreement with him and register in it the transfer of property rights to work.

Use photo stocks

There are free and paid ones. It is easy to search for the necessary images, licenses are visible, the choice is relatively large. But these pictures have probably already been used by someone before you - for example, the same smiling people depict employees on the websites of hundreds of companies. "Smiling through the pain Harold" became a meme at all, and started with a photo stock. Another catch - photo stocks are illegal and collect photos without the permission of the authors. In the end, you will have to answer, so play it safe and check the picture through Google.

Embed images

For non-commercial use only. With the help of embed, you do not save the picture to yourself, but embed it in the page code. In this way, you can take pictures from Instagram, Getty Images, Tumblr and Flickr. This method can be used in mailing lists and on the site.

Search in Google

We hammer in the request, go to the "Pictures" section. Here we click on "Tools" and select the appropriate license from the "Rights to use" drop-down list. Always go to the site where the photo is located and check its origin.

Use materials from the public domain

In Russia, property copyright ceases to operate 70 years after the death of the author. This applies to books, paintings, films. At the same time, other countries have their own copyright terms, so be sure to study the issue before taking content.

Can I use other people's texts?

The story is the same with the texts as with the pictures - you cannot use them without permission. Catchy quotes from a movie or book are great for newsletter topics, but are copyrighted. Moreover, both the original names and the translated ones.

Even if you take someone else's text and slightly rework it, the copyright holder has the right to file a complaint. He will seek expertise, and specialists can confirm the borrowing of the text.

How does copyright work on social media?

If you take the content

Copyright also works on social media. It protects all pictures, texts, gifs and videos. You can do reposts without any problems - this way you preserve the authorship of the content. But you cannot publish on your site without the permission and instructions of the author, this is a violation of the law.

The algorithm of actions, if you want to use someone else's content on the social network, is usual. Find the author of the text or image, see if the terms of publication are indicated on his website or account. If not specified - contact him and agree.

If the content was taken from you

Users can only borrow your content for personal, non-commercial use and are required to indicate the author and source of borrowing. Otherwise, they violate the law, and you can claim the removal of the content and compensation in court.

Put copyrights on all your photos and videos, sign authorship. This will make it easier to defend your interests in court.

How do I protect my copyrights?

First, collect evidence: links and screenshots of your pages and pages of a competitor with similar content, originals of photos and videos. You have to have everything to show - you posted materials before the competitor. Go to a notary to certify these materials.

Then try to negotiate peacefully: write to the owners of the resource that you have collected "material evidence", and ask to remove the content and compensate you at least for the costs of the notary. If the perpetrators disagree or disagree, you can take legal action.

Be sure to consult with a lawyer. It happens that your efforts in litigation are not worth it: either the chance of winning is small, or the compensation will be too small.

What do you need to remember?

• Pictures, gifs, videos and texts on the Internet are protected by copyright. To use them, you need to agree with the author or comply with the terms of the license.
• Be especially careful if you want to use someone else's content for your ads.
• If someone steals the content you created, collect evidence, have it certified by a notary. Request the removal of unlawfully used materials. If the offender disagrees, go to court.