By: Santos E. Ruíz

Facebook and Instagram: How to Report Copyright Infringements

   In today’s world, social networks allow us to interconnect with many people. As such, shared content can be classified into horizontal networks, where the interrelation is general (e.g., Facebook) and vertical networks, aimed at an audience (e.g., LinkedIn, social network targeting professionals) or a specific activity (e.g., Instagram, an image or video sharing network) [1].

   In regard to the protection of content published on social networks, our July newsletter included an article entitled “¿Nuestras publicaciones en las redes sociales pueden ser protegidas por el Derecho de Autor?” [2] (“Can our posts on social media be protected by Copyright”?). In this article, a reference was made to a test that determines whether content published in social networks is susceptible of copyright protection.

   When we find ourselves with content protected by copyright –whether belonging to us or a third party– of which we have been granted the necessary licenses, it is essential that we review the Intellectual Property policies of the platform through which we have decided to publish said content. Let us, for example, revise the common clauses that Facebook and Instagram include in their policies and terms of use:

Licensing

Both social networks are granted a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the published content. This license will cease when the content or the account in which it was published is deactivated. However, in both cases the license shall continue if the content was previously shared by third parties.

 Agreements

Both networks include several agreements that the user must accept when using the service. Worthy of note are the following: (i) whoever shares content on the social network agrees that he/she is the owner of said content or otherwise has sufficient rights and license to do so; (ii) the posting and use of content shall not infringe on the rights of any third party (such as privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, among others); and (iii) in case of infringement of third party rights, the user who shared the content shall assume any responsibility relieving the social network of any responsibility whatsoever.

Corrective measures

Both networks state that in case of infringement of third party rights, the network shall proceed to the deletion of the content. Likewise, the user’s account can be suspended if the behavior that originated the infringement becomes persistent. This last measure could be justified by the need of upholding the conglomerate of intellectual property rights.

   If there is reason to believe that there has been copyright infringement, both social networks recommend that the affected party first contact the person who posted the content, requesting that it be taken down. If this request goes unanswered, the user can submit an online form to generate a copyright infringement claim 3.

   This copyright claim form presents a series of options which include the following statement: “I found content that I believe violates my copyright”. After clicking on that option, the user must submit complete contact information, including the mailing address of the owner of the right in question. Once that information has been provided, the work considered to be a violation of copyright must be described, as well as any web addresses (URLs) that lead directly to the allegedly infringing content. Finally, Facebook and Instagram request that the user provide a web address where an authorized sample of the work, product or production can be seen. If it cannot be found online, they request a detailed description of the same.

   Although these copyright claim mechanisms can be considered to facilitate the exercise of the same, it is worth noting that it does not, in any case, substitute any civil, administrative or criminal action contemplated in the Venezuelan Law on Copyright of 1993. This law enables the owner of any of these exploitation rights to request that the judiciary authorities declare his rights to be valid and prohibit its violation by the infringer. Besides taking down the content that has been shared in infringement of the author’s copyright, a claim for compensation of moral and material damages generated by the infringer can be submitted. In these cases, it is recommended that the affected party contact expert copyright attorneys before proceeding with any type of claim.

 

Sources:

• Background vector created by Starline – Freepik.com
• [1] Wikipedia Collaborators. Red Social [online]. Wikipedia, The free encyclopedia. 2016. [Retrieval date: August, 11th, 2016]. Available at https://es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red_social&oldid=92921869.
• [2] García Calles, Indira. ¿Nuestras publicaciones en las redes sociales pueden ser protegidas por el Derecho de Autor? Spanish version. Antequera Parilli & Rodríguez Study, 2016.2016 [Retrieval date: August, 11th, 2016]. Available at: http://www.antequera.com.ve/index.php?mod=news&exec=detail&id=547
• [3] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/1409697672616547 and https://help.instagram.com/contact/372592039493026