Know your copyright
Social media content is intellectual property
Content on social media is widely distributed, and the more the content is posted, increases the risk of other parties infringing on the Intellectual Property of the creator. This calls on creators to use various tools/ methods available to make it easier for them to identify infringements on their work. According to Intellectual Property Consultants, ParkGrey IP Founder, Letlhogonolo Moremi, an Attorney at Law and Intellectual Property Specialist, these tools may include the watermarking of photographic and Video content to ensure that the creator’s signature is visible whenever the content is shared.
On top of this, he says that there is a need for content creators and social media users to familiarize themselves with the content reporting process of each social media platform. “Most social media platforms leave for you to report posts or content that infringes on existing intellectual property rights. You may be able to report a photo that is posted by somebody claiming it as their own when they are not the original creators of it. You may also be able to report accounts which misrepresent themselves as being certain businesses or personalities or which use the intellectual property of those businesses and personalities for their own commercial gain,” he said.
Moremi explains that in the context of social media, content is the primary currency. He also says that for one to be able to thrive in the social media economy, one needed to have the ability to consistently produce engaging content that draws in users and by extension allows for monetization of the social media platform.
“This may be by way of collaboration with other social media users, paid engagement or the sale of advertising space on a platform. In order for the opportunities for monetization to arise one has to be capable of creating content that is original and that is engaging. Naturally this has implications in the sense of Intellectual Property as that content will naturally have Intellectual property rights that are vested in it,” he said adding that the Intellectual property is the product that content creator sells on social media, and that it is their creative labour that brings in engagement audience and financial capital.
Highlighting some of the legal issues that arise in social media pertaining to IP, he said these include infringement of copyrighted material, misappropriation and misuse of brands and trademarks, as well as infringements on personality rights such as the use of a person’s name or image to imply association with a certain product or business, ownership of digital content usually between social media user to mention a few. In light of these issues, Moremi said that it is key that social media content creators learn the essentials of tracking any infringement on their content, reporting such infringing content so that the content may be taken off the platform, as well as learning the basics of contractual agreement between themselves as social media content creators and the personnel that they may engage in the creation of their content.