This document discusses intellectual property rights for photos shared on social media platforms like Instagram, Flickr, and Twitter. It notes that while sharing photos online is easy, issues around privacy and ownership can arise. Two case studies are described where professional photographers discovered their photos being used commercially without permission after sharing them on social media. The document promotes the Lobster marketplace as a way to purchase licenses for photos and avoid potential legal issues with unauthorized commercial use of social media content.

1. Who owns intellectual property
rights for our Instagram, Flickr
and Twitter photos?

2. Every decade of
recent history seems
to have its own
defining characteristic.

3. People talk about the
Roaring 20s, the
Depression-stricken 30s,
the free-spirited 60s, the
rise of IT in 2000s

4. The most defining
characteristic of the
decade we are living in
now is probably social
media.

5. We all love connecting with
people, adding friends, and
most of all, sharing. Instagram,
Facebook or Twitter are playing
a very important role on our
screens and in our lives.

6. But living in a world where sharing
thoughts, moments, or photos with
millions of people is literally as easy
as tapping a button, privacy and
intellectual property are two
concepts that are quite problematic.

7. THE PROBLEM!

8. Once you put a photo up on
Instagram or Flickr, it seems
to belong to the world. And
it does, up to a point, in that
anyone else can see it.

9. Some people see an interesting
photo on Instagram or Flickr
and take it without asking if
they are allowed to or
wondering whether they are
doing the right thing or not.

10. A thousand shares later, the
author of that photo might see
their picture on the home page
of a website, without having
any idea how it ended up there.

11. Or, even worse, they
might see it in shop, as a
print on a T-shirt sold by a
famous fashion brand all
over the world.

12. CASE STUDY!

13. This is what happened to Tuana
Aziz, a commercial photographer
from Sweden, who discovered
that the Spanish fashion brand
Mango was using one of his
photos without his permission.

14. Aziz shared the photo on
Instagram in August 2011
and made it his profile
picture in February 2012.

15. Aziz came across the shirt
featuring his photo in a
shop in Sweden and then
discovered that the brand
was selling it online as well.

16. Aziz’s case is not unique,
one of the most notorious
case is probably the one
of Daniel Morel.

17. Morel was awarded $1.2M in
the lawsuit against Agence
France-Presse, after the
company used one of his
Twitter photos without
permission.

18. As a photo-journalist, Morel took
photos in Haiti, after the 2010
earthquake. One of his photos,
depicting a native woman trapped
under the rubble, was pulled by AFP
from his Twitter account and used
without his consent.

19. Given the fact that Morel
was finally compensated
after a 3 year lawsuit, this
case was a lucky one.

20. The same cannot be said
about the AFP
representatives, who lost
more than time and money.

21. They also lost some of their prestige
and maybe the trust of their readers.
And all of this because they did not
think twice before using a Twitter
account that did not belong to them.

22. JOIN LOBSTER!

23. Lobster is trying to change this
mindset and protect
intellectual property by
convincing people in need of
visual content that it is better
to buy than to steal.

24. As a buyer, you can
purchase a license for a
photo for as little as $0.99
and use that photo as
many times as you want.

25. Licensing from users via
Lobster gives you peace of
mind and keeps your lawyer
or the lawyers of your
company headache-free.

26. Because Lobster wants to
help us appreciate social
media for what it is: a
place where information
is exchanged, not stolen.

27. Join Lobster
Marketplace and
make sure you’re
making history!

28. Share your stories of
stolen social content with
us and we will publish
them on our Facebook
page!