Social Media and Copyright Infringement - April 2020.
Copyright infringement took a new turn recently after an American court decided that an image allegedly lifted from an Instagram account and used on a website did not infringe copyright law.
This is a big moment for creatives as it might be the final nail in the coffin of sharing work on social media sites for the purposes of marketing to potential clients with the expectation
that doing so comes with protection from copyright law. (Read about the case here.)
The court found that the photographer accepted the Instagram terms and conditions when they created their account and therefore has to accept that a third party can use those images posted to the site as per the site’s terms.
We all know that the cornerstone of copyright law is that the creator of the work (or the owner of the copyright) has the absolute right to exploit the copyright-protected work, usually for financial gain.
This new ruling though would seem to indicate, at least in the USA, that the work can be used for free.
I’m not a legal expert but I’m expecting this case to go through further court hearings as it’s unlikely to stop at this early stage this could of course mean that the findings of the lower court are
reversed and we’re back to square one. But, what if that decision is held firm by those more senior courts?
For most creatives sharing work on social media is a fact of life as it’s seen as one of the ways we get recognition. Before these platforms were ubiquitous creatives had to market their own material
though some very expensive channels such as a printed portfolios, a website, advertising and catalogue production and let’s not forget trailing around to meet clients.
All of those marketing channels cost money and with most advertising identifying an actual return on that investment was and still is difficult. Indeed marketing’s something of a black art whatever platform is used.
It’s worth noting here that these older methods still have merit. There’s no doubt a well-presented ‘book’ can be a thing of beauty and something to be proud of when passed across to an art director or editor.
Websites are still seen as a way of advertising too but if the creative decided they didn’t want to use any of these and rely only on social media it perhaps wouldn’t be the end of the world but at what cost?
When social media appeared it quickly became clear it offered us the chance to connect with our peers and people potentially interested in our work anywhere around the world, for free.
No sprprise then how quickly it took off. Creatives have built new careers by embracing social media and its potential to market to a massive audience.
That then is all well and good but what happens when a creative see their work taken and used in ways that they didn’t authorise? With those huge audiences there will always be people who want to take advantage
of the freely and easily available creativity for their own ends and really this should be seen now as a fact of life when sharing work. It would be naïve to assume that ‘it won’t happen to me’. It will.
What though is the alternative? If we decide to stop posting to social media with that loss of a marketing channel we’re looking back towards the traditional tools again to get our work out there in front of an audience.
That’s an immediate time and money investment.
Perhaps another way to look at this is to ask what’s the risk and what is the cost of that risk? The risk of a traditional marketing strategy is paying for all of those beautiful products we deliver
to a very select audience and the risk is nobody calls us back to offer us work. The risk associated with a free social media post is that potentially someone exploits our work and doesn’t pay meaning we lose the income.
I’m 100% for creatives being paid for their work at all times but also recognise the benefits of social media as a free marketing tool. I think the opportunity to market to that massive audience outweighs
the potential risk of lost income from copyright abuse. If a piece of work is considered so valuable then it probably shouldn’t go on social media. Being creatives though we like to show our best work and
not showing something because it’s so good will be hard to swallow. Still, risk showing or keep it to ourselves? A quandary I’m sure we’ll all face at some point.
The creative has a choice of how they show their work. Each method has costs and risks. This question will be around for some time as I don’t see the popularity of social media going away anytime soon.
Do we embrace social media and the risk of lost income to trade for the benefit of free exposure or rely on costlier traditional methods? What do you think?
All images © Peter Hatter
Article Date - April 2020
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The opinions in this blog post are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent those of CreativesGo or Peter Hatter Photography Ltd.