Social Media, Blogs And The Re-Distribution Of Articles, Legally Where Do You Stand?

[nellypope]

I am putting together a marketing piece which will take the form of a blog to be published everyweek. The content will mainly be a roundup of all the best, virals, funny videos, weird articles so 90% of the content would be credited to someone else, which is why I am asking, where do you stand legally? Providing you publish a credit to the original news source, or use an embedded file (e.g. youtube link) are you allowed to do this. Another idea was to advertise unusual gifts/products would you be allowed to this providing you contacted the retailer?

[Buenchico]

If someone posts a video on Youtube of their cat playing with a ball of wool, and then enables the 'embed' option they have effectively granted permission to the owners of other websites to use the material to which they own the copyright.

However if someone records something from TV (or from A DVD), without the permission of the copyright holder, and then places it on Youtube, they can't grant permission to others to embed it (because they never had permission to post it in the first place).

So you can only safely embed Youtube content into your website if you're totally confident that the person who posted it holds the copyright to that video.

Direct plagiarism of text material from websites normally certainly infringes copyright. The only exceptions are likely to be where:
(a) the amount of text copied does not form 'a substantial part' of the original work ; OR
(b) there is 'fair dealing' for criticising or review or for reporting current events (which must be done with a relevant credit).

With regard to the above,there is no legal definition of what constitutes 'a substantial part' of a work; it can't be assumed that any particular percentage applies. For example printing the first half of Chapter 1 of a 50-chapter book would only represent 1% of the work but it would probably still be regarded as 'a substantial part' and thus in breach of copyright. It should also be noted that the copyright exception relating to 'reporting current events' does NOT apply to photographs.

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/copy.htm

[Buenchico]

>>>Another idea was to advertise unusual gifts/products would you be allowed to this providing you contacted the retailer?

There's no need to ask anyone. Retailers would usually be grateful for free advertising anyway but, even if they're not, you're free to tell the world what is being stocked (and at what prices) on retailers' shelves.

[nellypope]

BuenChico, Cant thank you enough for this, really appreciate it. Also thanks for the advice on my previous post, re: Web domain names (Adobe Muse).

:-)

[Zacs-Master]

Nelly, there are sites which do this (not the gifts but the quirky stuff). One is Stumble Upon.

[danielreardon0]

If your are really copying something, then you may face the copyright issues from the author of original content and there are also chances to swipe away from search engines. If these concerns are really bothering you, you could meet someone or more like a social media agency like Kreata Global in your area.

[TMMuslimah]

i. Disclosure of Confidential Information. It's not uncommon for people to mistakenly disclose confidential information on social media.
ii. Misleading and Deceptive Statements.
iii. Defamation.
iv. Employment Law.
v. The Benefits of Social Media for Businesses.
vi. Key Takeaways.