Clearing the myth: Facebook copyright explained
Clearing the myth about the Facebook status that has everyone in a bind
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-12-02 00:21 GMT
Hyderabad: City photographers and artists seem to have fallen prey to the latest myth on intellectual property rights doing the rounds on Facebook, about Facebook.
A frequently-shared status reads, “Due to the fact that Facebook has chosen to involve software that will allow the theft of my personal information, I do declare the following: on this day, November 29, 2014, in response to the new Facebook guidelines and under articles L.111, 112 and 113 of the code of intellectual property, We declare that our rights are attached to all our personal data, drawings, paintings, photos, texts, etc. published on our profile.
For commercial use of the foregoing my written consent is required at all times.” The belief is that anyone can copy and paste this status to “tell Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, broadcast, or to take any other action against the user on the basis of this profile and/or its contents.”
But save yourself the trouble of posting that status as it simply doesn’t work. The post is completely pointless, as Facebook declares, “Yes, you retain the copyright to your content. When you upload your content, you grant us a license to use and display that content,” on its Help page. However, you can’t reverse the terms you have agreed to by being part of the website with just an update.
The statement of rights on the website asserts: “For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License).
This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.” It is also important to note: “When you publish content or information using the Public setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off Facebook, to access and use that information, and to associate it with you (i.e., your name and profile picture).”
A report in Gawker has revealed, “Open capital entity” is not real. According to the website, “Facebook having publicly traded stock doesn’t affect its copyright or privacy guidelines; and as we’ve said, you are already, explicitly, allowing the use of your intellectual property under a specific set of agreed-upon guidelines.”