There’s an interesting trend in the business world dealing with intellectual property. It seems like a lot of people don’t consider it theft to steal intellectual property off of a website, blog, or social media site. Let’s consider a few examples of things that can’t be done with digital intellectual property.
- “Borrowing” Images – A lot of the content you see online is royalty-free, but there is a big difference between royalty-free and free. The site still paid for the use of those images. They just paid a one-time fee. You can’t borrow them for your site, and many stock photo companies search for unlawful use of their content.
- Copying Content – Whether a person decides to copy content from another site himself or hires a freelancer who does it, copying content is still a violation of copyright law. Plus, it has a negative effect on SEO because Google picks up that content is copied and penalizes the site that posted it more recently. Be sure to hire a reputable freelance writer.
- Reposting Social Media Content (without providing the source) – Most brands don’t care if you repost their social media content as long as you give them credit and link to the original post. But the fact is that social media content is still “published” content.
Protecting Your Intellectual Property Online
For advice on how to protect your digital IP (and to protect yourself from violating someone else’s copyright or trademark), contact Pokala Law APC. We specialize in helping small businesses to navigate the pitfalls of intellectual property law successfully. Call 1-844-695-1487 today to get started, or request a consultation online.
