Facebook users' copyright posts unnecessary, useless

Margaret Millikin, director and co-chair of Crowe & Dunlevy's Intellectual Property and Technology Group, addresses the deluge of status updates regarding copyrights of users.

 
By Paula Burkes | Published: December 5, 2012    Comment on this article Leave a comment

photo - Margaret Millikin is director and co-chair of Crowe & Dunlevy's Intellectual Property and Technology Group. PHOTO PROVIDED <strong></strong>
Margaret Millikin is director and co-chair of Crowe & Dunlevy's Intellectual Property and Technology Group. PHOTO PROVIDED

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A: No. Under U.S. copyright law, copyrights arise at the moment of creation, and there is no legal requirement that must be taken to assert ownership in the created work. However, the creator of a work must register the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office to receive certain benefits that otherwise are not accorded if the work is not registered. Posting a claim of copyright on your Facebook page does not negate the license that an account holder gave Facebook at the time of setting up the account.

Q: How could you properly protect the content on your profile?

A: Facebook's policy outlines ways to protect your content through privacy settings. The policy expressly states that you own all of your posted content and that Facebook only has a right to use it. Of course, you will own only the content that you actually created or purchased. If you post content that you do not own, other laws and provisions in the Facebook policy will come into play. Rest assured, however, that Facebook does not claim to own your content simply because you post it on your wall.

PAULA BURKES, Business Writer