Avoid Copyright Infringement in the Age of Social Media社交媒体时代防侵权指南

Social media is an environment rich with opportunity for small businesses to connect with users， share content and convert customers. However， as the Internet and social media have advanced， hard rules on content ownership have taken a back seat to1 progress.

社交媒体机遇遍地，为小企业提供了与用户建立联系、分享内容并转化客户的平台。然而，面对互联网和社交媒体的发展，有关内容所有权的硬性规定却已退居次位。

Today， small business owners must have a clear idea on copyright laws and image usage to protect themselves from online embarrassment or potentially expensive litigation. Once a user uploads a photo， for example， it’s automatically copyrighted， and copying and posting that image could expose your business to major legal risks.

如今，为了保护自己免于陷入网络窘境或巨额诉讼，小企业主必须清楚了解著作权法和图片使用规定。比方说，用户一旦上传一张照片，这张照片就自动受著作权保护，任何复制和发布这张照片的行为都可能给你的企业带来重大法律风险。

“Copyright exists once you have an original work of authorship fixed in any tangible medium，” said Ruth Carter， an Internet attorney who is an authority on online copyright law involving blog posts， image usage and trademarks. That includes Twitter and Facebook.

互联网律师露丝·卡特是博客文章、图片使用和商标方面网络著作权法的权威。她表示：“一旦你将自己的原创作品固定在某个有形媒介上，著作权就随之而生。”所谓的有形媒介包括推特和脸书。

In fact， a New York federal judge ruled that news organizations that embedded tweets that contained an individual’s picture of Tom Brady2 had violated the Copyright Act. The original photographer had originally posted the pic to Snapchat， where it went viral and was then uploaded to Twitter.

事实上，纽约一位联邦法官就曾裁定好几家新闻机构违反美国版权法，因为这几家机构嵌入的推特内容包含一张汤姆·布雷迪的个人照片。起初，拍摄者把这张照片发布在Snapchat上，一度疯传，随后这张照片被人上传到推特。

Carter wrote a book on copyright law in blogging called The Legal Side of Blogging： How Not to Get Sued， Fired， Arrested， or Killed and said that businesses need to understand that copyright infringement is a form of theft.

卡特针对博客所涉及的著作权法撰写了一本书，题为《博客法律面面观：防官司、防被炒、防被捕、防丢命》。她表示企业要认识到侵犯著作权也是盗窃的一种形式。

“There is bad information out there that tells business owners， lawyers， people that they can use anything they find on the Internet as long as they give an attribution and a link back to the original，” she said. “That’s wrong.”

她说：“四处流传的不实信息让企业主、律师以及广大老百姓以为只要标明出处、提供原始链接，即可随意使用网上找到的任何内容。这种想法是错误的。”

What constitutes infringement

侵权行为构成要件

Ryan Vacca is a professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law and a member of the school’s Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property. He said that the goal of copyright law is to protect original creative expression and that images easily fall under3 this protection.

瑞安·瓦卡是新罕布什尔大学法学院的教授，也是该学院富兰克林·皮尔斯知识产权中心的成员。他指出，版权法是为了保护原创的创造性表达，而图片无疑在保护范围内。

“For most pieces of creative work， it easily satisfies the minimally creative standard if—assuming they didn’t rip it off4 from somebody else—the original creator is going to have some copyright protection in that image，” he said.

他还表示：“大部分创造性作品，只要没有剽窃他人，很容易达到创造性的最低标准，原作者的图片就能受到一定的著作权保护。”

If you download an image and post it， whether it be on your site， in a blog post， or on social media， you’re likely committing copyright infringement. Copying any images or user-generated content without the creator’s permission can constitute infringement， even if you link back to their website or original post.

无论是在自己的网站上、博客文章里，还是社交媒体上发布下载的图片，你都有可能侵犯著作权。只要未经原作者允许，复制任何图片或者用户原创的内容都可能构成侵权，附上对方的网站地址或原始内容链接也无济于事。

In addition to directly downloading and posting someone’s work， copyright infringement can occur when you take an image from another company， like image-hosting companies like Getty5. Some small business owners may assume that such a large company won’t concern themselves with a minor offense， but this can be a reckless assumption. Getty has been known to send bills to sites that feature Getty’s images but don’t have a Getty subscription， for example.

除直接下载和发布他人作品外，从其他公司获取图片，比如Getty这样的图片存储公司，也可能出现侵权行为。有些小企业主或许觉得这样的大公司对一次小小的冒犯不以为意，这个想法未免轻率。据悉，Getty已向多家展示其图片但未向其缴纳服务费的网站发去账单。

Copyright infringement and liability

侵权与担责

The only person that can hold a business or individual accountable for copyright infringement is the original creator of the work. If， for example， you download or copy an image and the user doesn’t notice， doesn’t care or decides not to act， you don’t have to worry. Relying on this is not a good practice， because either way you’re exposed to a serious risk.

只有作品的原作者才能追究企业或个人侵犯著作权的责任。如果你下载或复制了一张图，而用户没发觉、不在乎，或者决定不采取行动，那你就不必担心。但一味靠这招并非正道，因为你横竖都会面临重大风险。

The maximum penalties for copyright infringement， if the original creator registers their work in a timely fashion with the copyright office， are $150，000 per work according to Vacca. This cost is in addition to legal and attorney fees.

据瓦卡说，如果原作者及时在版权局登记作品，那么侵犯著作权最高可按每件作品15万美元的标准来罚款，这还不包括诉讼费和律师费。

The litigation process is expensive， and the original creator could elect for quicker， less expensive alternatives like sending a cease and desist letter6， sending a bill for their work， or using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to send a takedown notice.