Q: Do I give up my copyrights of an image if I publish it on social media?
The term “copyright,” when it comes to any type of creative work, is pretty much what it sounds like: the right to copy. The person that created the work and anyone they authorize to use the work are the only ones that can legally make use of it.
Though it鈥檚 true that when you signed up for your social media accounts, you agreed to allow each of the social networks to share or reuse your images, it does not mean that you gave up the copyrights.
Understanding copyrights
鈥淲hen you create an image on your own, you automatically own the copyrights to that image, without having to do anything extra,鈥� according to Maria Crimi Speth, an attorney at law firm Jaburg Wilk, which specializes in copyright and trademark law.
Many people confuse registering a copyright as the process that provides the owner with the rights, but it鈥檚 actually a legal means to make it feasible to pursue violators of your copyright and to be eligible for certain types of damages.
Speth has written a book called 鈥�” and is working on another that specifically deals with protecting photos in the era of social media.
鈥淩egistering an image with the U.S. Copyright Office online is actually pretty easy to do. You don鈥檛 necessarily need an attorney to do it,鈥� Speth said.
Where an attorney comes in is when someone is violating your copyright and you want to seek legal remedies, which is also where having it registered is helpful.
Where and how to register a copyright
Since your pictures are already in digital form, it鈥檚 a pretty straightforward process to submit an application to register an image at .
Unless you鈥檝e done it before, you鈥檒l have to start by .聽Once you鈥檙e a registered user, you鈥檒l need to log into the system to get started and follow the on-screen prompts.
The only thing that may throw you is that it requires you to pay the registration fee before you actually upload your images. The , but you can register up to 750 images on the same application.
Keep in mind, the information you provide to register the image 鈥� such as your address 鈥� will become public record.
Violating copyrights is easy
A common misconception when it comes to images is that if they can be found with a Google search, they must be in the public domain.
Using any image without permission from the copyright holder can get you into legal trouble, especially if you鈥檙e using it for a business.
The good news is that there are lots of images that make themselves available for reuse through websites such as .
There鈥檚 also an option to only show images that are labeled for reuse in a Google image search by clicking on the Tools menu, then on Usage Rights. Even then, you should visit the website that is offering the image to see if they have specific credit requirements in order for you to use it.
Violating an image copyright can result in financial penalties that can be in the hundreds or thousands of dollars per image, per use, so don鈥檛 do it!
Ken Colburn is founder and CEO of . Ask any tech question on or .
