If a publication writes an article about you or your business, reposting it on your social media may seem like an natural step to take to boost its reach. However, even if you’re the subject, it’s important to understand the legal implications of sharing someone else’s work.
Imagine – your business has taken the world by storm and a publication instructs its journalists to write a feature on your story. It’s a very exciting time for your brand – you’re finally getting some recognition for all the hard work you and your team have put in.
Obviously, you’ll want to share the article with your audience, and as far and wide as possible. However, it’s important to remain careful not to infringe the publication’s copyright in their story. If the outlet has purchased a commercial photo of you (for example, from a third party journalist or another news source), you could also be infringing copyright by sharing it – even if the photo is of you!
There are various, safe ways to make the most of the publicity – for example, sharing a link to the article on your social media accounts. However, what’s stopping you from posting a screenshot of the article, or the images within it – even if the images are of you?
The answer is the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988, which is in place to protect original works. This establishes an exclusive legal right for creators (e.g. of art, music, images or literature) to use their work and control what happens to it. Therefore, any third party will need the creator’s permission to copy, distribute or display their work, for example.
A few exceptions in the Act provide for the work to be used without breaching copyright law. Limited extracts of works can be used for non-commercial research, parody, private study, for reporting current events, and in teaching materials.
However, most of these exceptions require the use of the work to be ‘fair dealing’, and it is always important to give the original creator of the work sufficient acknowledgement. Whether the use of a work will be considered “fair dealing”, depends on several factors, such as whether the use of the copyrighted work affects the market for the original work, and whether the extent of the use of the copyrighted work was reasonable and appropriate.
Unfortunately, these exceptions won’t be much use to you if you’re hoping to republish an entire article – this will likely constitute infringement (even if the article is about you!) unless you get the necessary permission from the publisher.
In some cases, a publisher may require payment in exchange for use of their material and, even if such permission is granted, it is essential to obey any limits that the publisher sets on the use of the work.
Another option is to obtain a licence (in exchange for a fee) from a licensing body such as NLA Media Access, Copyright Licensing Agency, or the Publishers’ Licensing Services.
Failing to obtain either permission from the publisher or a suitable licence could leave you open to a claim for copyright infringement. However, a letter of claim won’t necessarily come from the publisher – organisations such as PicRights have Compliance Agents who are tasked with chasing down online infringers on behalf of the owner of the work.
To protect yourself from potentially costly claims (plus the legal fees incurred defending them), it is vital to ensure that your use of someone’s copyright-protected work doesn’t constitute infringement. The legal position remains the same, even if the article is all about how great you are!
Summary – what you need to consider:
- By default, the copyright in a story is owned by its publisher and reposting without the appropriate permissions could constitute an infringement, even if the story is about you!
- Limited copyright exceptions enable you to make use of a work without infringement – these exceptions include parody, and reporting current events.
- Even if one of these exceptions applies to your use of a copyright-protected work, it is important to give the original creator of the work sufficient acknowledgement.
- No exception will usually apply to republishing press coverage – so, if you intend to do this, make sure you obtain permission from the publisher or a licence.
Are you concerned about infringing someone else’s copyright, or want to protect you and your business from infringement claims?
At Moore Law, we have plenty of experience in intellectual property and commercial issues. We’re always happy to answer your questions and put your mind at rest. Contact Us.
This article was first published in the January 2025 edition of our newsletter, Moore Law Monthly. Sign up using our Linktree to join our mailing list: https://linktr.ee/moorelaw.