In recent years, along with the rapid development of the social media in China, many enterprises including a great number of our clients havestarted to use social media in order to improve their products or services and to attract more and more customers.
Recently, we were asked to review an advert that our client wanted to use in their blog. Unfortunately, it suffered from a few problems.
Without being too specific, lots of innovative plans and original works are published online. Due to the rapid dissemination of information, people are less cautious with their postings. For example, someone may casually grab a photo or picture from Baidu or Bing for their own blogs and websites. Some may even copy sentences or paragraphs from others without using quotations or listing references. It is safe to assume that these are all copyright infringements and the copier could in theory be liable for damages suffered by any injured parties according to Copyright Law, Tort Law and other relevant laws.
It’s important for those using social media to understand its role and figure out what to do to safeguard their rights. Here are our suggestions to avoid legal risks:
For the copyright holders:
1. Be prepared or hire legal team to look after your rights and maintain your registrations;
2. Keep an eye open for any potential or existing infringements;
3. Report infringement immediately to social media operators; and
4. Do not hesitate to take any necessary legal action, if you want to be taken seriously.
For operators of social media platforms:
1. Follow the strict letter of the law;
2. Don’t forget your data protection duties; and
3. Take timely and necessary action against the reported infringements, or you may be held accountable.
For social media users:
1. Don’t copy the hard work of others without their permission. It’s not nice; and
2. Take legitimate warnings of legal action seriously.