What if social media and Copyright policy never existed?
Abstract-
Social Media is a huge platform to show and enhance the creativity of the creator and to protect such creativities social media has its copyright policies. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube have their Copyright policy which is covered under U.S law and DMCA. But What if social media does not have any copyright policies, in this research we will study the above topic. This research will give information about the policies of different platform and what happens when it doesn’t exist, it also discusses the Copyright Act, 1957, DMCA, and U.S law. The content on social media which is posted by the creator is his intellectual property. The most concerning part about social media are Piracy and if policies don’t exist, then Piracy will be the most often thing that is going to take place, especially on YouTube which is going to affect the Film industry and the amount of crime that is going to take place because of this. This research also covers the question of why we need copyright policy.
Keywords- Intellectual Property, Copyright Policy, DMCA, social media, Piracy, Digital platform, World Intellectual property organization.
Introduction
Social media are also known as a digital platform where many issues arise one of them is the copyright of someone’s Intellectual Property. In a world full of social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube where everyone creates their content by being an Influencer, Content writer, Content creator, and many more each one of them cares about their Intellectual property. Intellectual property is a property created or innovated by someone and filed the patent application on the date of establishment, Intellectual property can be movable or immovable. Innovation or technology introduced by someone and gained the rights of the property by filing the patent application and one safeguard their property from copying comes under intellectual property. The publication is important which is defined in Section 3 of The Copyright act, 1957 which states that- “Publication means making a work available to the public by issue of copies or by communicating the work to the public”.
Different Platforms and their Copyright laws
Facebook (Instagram) and its Copyright Policy
Certain policies of copyright of Facebook fall under its Terms and Conditions which are covered under the U.S Copyright Act or World Intellectual property Organisation (WIPO). It is mentioned in its terms and conditions that on Facebook content can only be posted when it does not violate the rights of the owner or does not violate copyright law including trademark. Facebook and Instagram have the same copyright policy.
The Copyright Act,1957 does not cover someone’s Thoughts, Titles, Facts, Names and Short phrases or blank forms, but it does cover (in terms of social media) Tunes, Songs, Content (Videos, writing), Small business ideas (themes), Innovation, Technology.
When a digital property like photos, videos, and songs are covered by Digital Millennium Copyright Act protection (DMCA), it means sharing the digital property of someone without their permission is a violation of their rights. And even after someone violates the rights of the owner their account will be disabled permanently.
Twitter and its Copyright Policy
Twitter is known for having the best copyright policies and immediate actions can be taken on it according to Twitter’s copyright policy if a violation of right falls under DMCA then it is called copyright or violation of the right of owner intellectual property, it also gives the instruction how an affected party can appeal a removal by submitting a compliant counter-notice.
Twitter will respond to reports of alleged copyright infringement, such as allegations concerning the unauthorized use of a copyrighted image as a profile or header photo, allegations concerning the unauthorized use of a copyrighted video or image uploaded through our media hosting services, or Tweets containing links to allegedly infringing materials. Note that not all unauthorized uses of copyrighted materials are infringements (According to the official website of Twitter).
The owner of intellectual property can complain against the person who violated the right under section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Protection.
YouTube and its Copyright Policy
According to YouTube policy, the content creator on YouTube has to create unique content that is not present on someone else YouTube channel, if this happens YouTube gives the copyright strike the maximum strike a content creator can get is 3 times in 90 days after that creator’s account get deleted. Violation of rights of the owner on YouTube is also covered in U.S law and DMCA.
There is also a term mentioned in YouTube’s privacy policy ‘Fair-use’, it is known that a content creator can use the owner’s content under some circumstances without getting the permission of the owner. It varies country by country; different countries have different rules on how content can be used without the owner’s permission.
Pinterest and its Copyright policy
Pinterest copyright policy is also covered under U.S law and DMCA, according to the Pinterest copyright policy if someone infringes the rights of the owner by copying the content then Pinterest disables the person’s account permanently.
Pinterest respects the intellectual property rights of others and we expect people on Pinterest to do the same. It’s our policy—in appropriate circumstances and at our discretion—to disable or terminate the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe or are repeatedly charged with infringing copyrights or other intellectual property rights.?
What if copyright doesn’t exist?
Piracy is the most concerning part of media done for films, sons, and software. Internet piracy is defined as illegally obtained rights of a film by downloading it from uncensored sites and giving free downloads of it. In this arena movie piracy is the most happening thing on the internet, illegal sites are being shared on social media without knowing their disadvantages this whole process covers violation of the rights of the owner and is mentioned in Section 13 of The Copyrights act, 1957. In International law, only physical piracy is covered under the statute of piracy.
领英推荐
Copyright is defined in Section 14 of The Copyright Act, 1957 that is- "copyright" means the exclusive right subject to the provisions of this Act, to do or authorize the doing of any of the following acts in respect of a work or any substantial part.
The copyright Act safeguards their(owner’s) intellectual property by giving rights to the owner which is known as the patent rights, Section 14(a)(i) “to reproduce the work in any material form including the storing of it in any medium by electronic means”. According to Section 17(a) of the Indian Copyright Act, the "first owners" of a literary work are the authors of that particular work and provide that, first ownership will always rest with the author even if the rights of the concerned literary work have been transferred.?
Copyright policy plays a vital role in the owner’s life and infringing the rights of the owner by copying their content is illegal. Also, the users available on social media need to differentiate between the fake post and the original post and the copyright policy can make it easier. If the policy doesn’t exist then the amount of online fraud can be increased and it can affect creators’ moral values and the motivation to create unique content this is a huge factor.
What if YouTube’s Copyright policy doesn’t exist?
If the copyright policy of YouTube doesn’t exist then the most happening thing on YouTube will be movie piracy which can affect the film industry and because of this amount of crime will increase and can also affect the economy of the country, because the film industry pays taxes in lakhs(lacs) which. Bollywood incurred the loss because piracy can be of 7-8 digits.
‘The Expendables 3’ as an example, it has been estimated that the movie lost about $100 million in revenue due to the pirated leak of the movie before release, and the views during the release of the film.
What if facebook’s copyright policy doesn’t exist?
Facebook is the most used platform for digital media people use Facebook to entertain themselves and to make friends, but if Facebook’s copyright policy doesn’t exist then it can be a huge issue because one can mislead the other by the pictures, content, posts by pretending it to be his. Also, it can increase the amount of online fraud because the users cannot be able to differentiate between the original content and copied content.?
Fairmount Hotels Pvt Ltd. vs. Bhupender Singh (2018)
Fairmount hotel Pvt ltd (Plaintiff) has discovered that Bhupendra Singh (Defendant) has uploaded photos of the hotels without the permission of the Hotel’s owner. Subsequently, a suit for infringement of Copyright of the Fairmount Hotels Pvt Ltd. According to the plaintiff, such an act is done to attract innocent people to the hotel because the defendant has served himself earlier in Fairmount hotels Pvt ltd, and used those photos to promote his hotel.
Relief
After filing 2 suits against the defendant, Defendant got liable to pay Rs. 50,000 to the plaintiff and got ordered by the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi not to do such an act again.
Analysis
Photographs are protected under Copyright law as artistic work under Section 2(c) of The Copyright Act, 1957 in India. But in India. According to Section 25 of The Copyright Act, 1957, Photographs are provided Copyright protection for 60 years from the date of publication and it varies from country to country.
Suggestion
If copyright policy doesn’t exist then the defendant (Bhupendra Singh) must’ve used those photos without the knowledge of the Plaintiff and can mislead the customers with the photos uploaded on Facebook.?
My Opinion
For an Author, their work is more important than anything and the priority that comes to their mind is protecting that work but if they don’t have any online protection available on certain social media platforms then why will they post something they worked so hard on. To protect their content, they need copyright policies on every platform. Copyright Policies can help the author to create more unique content and be more innovative in their work.
Perks of having social media copyright policy.
?CONCLUSION
In today’s world, social media is the most used platform and the most happening thing on this is copying the original content without knowing the rights of the content owner. Everyone on social media should be aware of intellectual property rights. Different social media platforms have a different privacy policy which gives certain rights to the owner and safeguards their content on social media platforms. Digital rights in India are covered in The Copyright Act, 1957, and Information Technology Act, 2000.