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Social media posts may be protected under copyright laws

On Behalf of | Aug 6, 2015 | Intellectual Property

Many businesses in California use social media to promote the products and services that they offer to customers. Although it is very common for Twitter and Facebook users to repost social media content, business owners may be able to protect their posts from redistribution. Intellectual property laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act have been used to prevent social media users from passing off someone else’s content as their own.

One freelance writer in Los Angeles was able to use the DMCA to protect the original jokes that she posted on her Twitter account. According to the writer, jokes that she posts on Twitter are her intellectual property, and she makes a living by writing them. She told Twitter that she did not give permission for others to repost her jokes without giving her proper credit.

Intellectual property cases involving short tweets or posts are uncommon, but many social media users get in trouble for posting copyrighted material that is not their own. In 2014, one Twitter user had their account suspended for trying to post every frame of the movie “Top Gun” without obtaining permission from the copyright owner. The website BuzzFeed was forced to delete much of its content in 2014 because the content was taken from other sources without permission.

A lawyer may be able to help a company that has had intellectual property stolen and distributed on social media without permission. If the content is subject to copyright laws, a lawyer may be able to help the company to pursue financial compensation for the copyright infringement.

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