Being a content creator is no easy task. And believe us, we know what it takes to be a content creator.

Apart from creating unique works, be it creatives or videos, or songs, content creators also need to take care of copyright and trademark issues.

Though copyrighting for traditional works like books, plays, movies, and theaters is relatively simple, it's a different story when it comes to the content on social media platforms. Hiring a copyright infringement attorney can help protect your content and make sure it is not used without your permission.

Consider this - you're a blogger, and you write content for your website.

You might need to carry out a lot of research from several sources. But, at the same time, you can't use the exact content from your reference. And even if you do so, you'd need to give the resources the credit they need.

The same is true with any image or other media that you use in your blogs. Most bloggers either create their own designs or use royalty-free pictures to avoid infringement charges.

In either case, the work would still be the intellectual property of its creator.

What Is Intellectual Property?

In simple words, intellectual property refers to any idea or piece of work created by an individual. It could be anything from a graphic design to a simple phrase or even a social media post.

Legally speaking, intellectual properties can only be licensed but never owned by another individual.

Besides, there are simple laws such as copyrighting that protect the ownership of such works.

Let's Understand More About Copyrights

A copyright is a legal decree that protects the ownership of intellectual properties.

It is noteworthy here that not all kinds of work fall within the legal definition of copyright law. Thankfully, digital content is not one of them.

Note: Websites do not fall under the legal framework for registering copyrights. But, the content published on a website falls well under the definition of copyrights.

Digital works like blogs, screen displays, social media posts are some of the most commonly protected properties under copyright law.

Although registering for copyrights is not mandatory, it is a must if you wish to take a violation lawsuit to court. It shows that you, as the owner of the work, are serious about protecting your work.

Like, already mentioned, not all works can be protected under copyright laws. Thankfully, there are a few ways to do so for most of your pieces.

Keep scrolling to learn more about it.

Protecting Social Media Content

This could be a little tricky, but let's try.

Of course, the best way to protect your work from infringement is to not publish it on social media in the first place. Simply because, when you post your content online, you give the publishing platform rights to use it.

Besides, you're also allowing other users on the platform to view it.

To protect your content, you should attach a copyright statement to your file. As a part of the creative community, you should know that technologies can attach timestamps to your work. For example, blockchain is one such technology.

And as you may know, any data or information stored on this public ledger is immutable. Meaning, you can use it to prove that the stolen work originally belongs to you.

Apart from this, you should stay vigilant to know when you can file a lawsuit.

Let's take a closer look at each of the social media platforms and their copyright statements.

Copyright Statements For Twitter

The microblogging website is one of the largest in the social media world, with a net worth of $13.37 billion as of 2020.

Surprisingly, it's bigger than Facebook.

The website allows users to post short blogs of up to 140 characters long. More so, the posts can contain links to other resources.

When it comes to copyrights, it says that the content is the sole responsibility of the originator. Twitter, however, reserves the right to remove content that violates its terms of use.

If a user believes their content has been copied, they can file a report for the same.

Copyright Statements For Facebook

Facebook's copyright statement is a bit different from that of Twitter. It states that the user owns the IP rights to the content they create.

However, if they share it with anyone else, they agree to give them a license to use it.

Since the platform allows more content options than Twitter, it reassures a more stringent copyright policy. As such, the same policy also extends to other products from Facebook.

These other platforms include Instagram, Whatsapp, Creator Studio, IGTV, Facebook Marketplace, and more.

Copyright Statements For Pinterest

Another popular social media platform is Pinterest. It allows users to post photos publicly.

Now, Pinterest does not interfere with the origination of the content outside its platform. However, when published on Pinterest, it offers its users a limited, non-exclusive license to use its services.

Pinterest users retain the responsibility and ownership of the content they publish. But, at the same time, by posting the content on the network, the users agree to give Pinterest a non-exclusive and royalty-free right to use their content.

Pinterest also reserves the right to remove or modify the content for any reason.

The Takeaway

Copyrighting is critical to protect your assets and personal work. Although it is not legally required to register a copyright for your work, doing so can help you in the long run. After all, you wouldn’t want to lose your work to someone else, and let them ruin your portfolio.

As long as your content is not reused without your consent, you can claim royalty or credibility for your work. But, for social media platforms, you explicitly consent to provide other users on the network, and the network itself, to reuse your work.

It is worth mentioning here that fighting a copyright violation claim is not easy. However, you might not even need to fight a lawsuit if you have the right tools and the necessary knowledge.

On this note, we hope that we have helped the creative community with the infringement issues they face.

Please leave us your feedback in the comments section below and let us know how you feel about the situation.