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Embedding Content Of Unknown Origin Is Actually What Could Get You In Trouble
February 20, 2018
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You may have seen the story:
"Federal Judge Rules That Embedded Tweets Can Represent Copyright Infringement"
The problem with the headline - it makes it sound as if embedding is copyright infringement.
Here's what happened.
Justin Goldman, working for Getty Images, snapped a photo of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on his Snapchat account.
Soon thereafter, people began taking the photo off Snapchat and sharing it on Twitter, a platform Goldman never shared the photo on.
As the photo went viral, various news publications glommed onto Justin's photo (not knowing the origin of the photo) and embedded tweets with that image in their news stories on their websites, making it appear as if the photo originated with said news organization.
The content of the embedded tweet is what infringes copyright.
The core of this suit is how people took Goldman's photo of Brady off of one social media account and shared it on an entirely different platform - without consent.
Judge Katherine Forrest stated "In this case, there are genuine questions about whether plaintiff effectively released his image into the public domain when he posted it to his Snapchat account."
There's a ton of gray area here as Forrest continues, "Indeed, in many cases there arelikely to be factualquestions as to licensing and authorization.There is alsoa very serious andstrong fair use defense, a defense under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act."
This case will continue to determine at what level the defendants will be held responsible and if a fair use argument nonetheless applies here.
Why this matters:
- Just because we see some random person tweet an image doesn't mean fair game.
- We are operating in a space where questions of copyright law will not always be clear.
- Develop discipline to track down where images you want to share (or embed) come from.
- Find the owner and get written permission to use.
Do the work to protect your brand from monetary (and image) damage.
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