10. Social media and IP

Sharing your content

Sharing your work or ideas on social media platforms before applying to protect your IP could prevent you from securing the rights.

As discussed in the IP registration section, if you share new designs or ideas online, before you have registered your ownership, it could affect your claim.

When you agree to the Terms of Service on social media you may grant permission for any content you post to be used by the service provider regardless of your IP rights. If you post your content and then later apply to protect your IP it may no longer be considered new.

IP Australia explains how to register your rights before promoting your design, trade mark, patent etc.

If it is not your content, get permission

Copyright is automatic so before sharing or publishing material online that is not your own work check:

• Can you link to other content rather than taking a screenshot or copying it?  Many platforms also make an embed option available.
• Does the work have a Creative Commons or other open licence allowing reuse?
• Is the work in the public domain?  Public domain means copyright has expired or the creator has dedicated their work and waived all their rights under copyright law.
• Do terms and conditions of the website clearly state reuse is allowed?  For example Pixabay Content license summary
• Do you have written permission from the copyright owner?

The library Copyright guide for researchers has information about getting permission from copyright owners.

Who owns what on social media?

TikTokkers are writing Ratatouille, the musical demonstrates how complicated it can get in our online world to know who owns what. TikTok users have been creating content under the hashtag #ratatouillemusical based on the 2007 film Ratatouille. The creators are located across the world and may face different IP laws depending on where they live.

Under TikTok’s terms of service, users wave their moral rights. So anyone using the TikTok content doesn’t have to attribute the creators. As noted earlier, in Australia, moral rights would normally require anyone using your work to correctly attribute you as the creator.