Are Your Tweets Copyrighted?
Are Your Tweets Copyrighted?
So you sit down at your desk, type out your less-than 140 word tweet, and post.
Is your post copyrightable?
An article posted by Brock Shinen discusses the confusion that has arisen from what can or cannot be copyrighted via Twitter (or other social networking sites for that matter).
Shinen exclaims his disbelief when discovering through another blog the “high level of participation and the supposed consensus that Tweets are, in fact, copyrightable and copyrighted.”
What does he say about this? Here are Shinen’s main points:
- How can your Tweets be copyrighted if the material you post through Twitter isn’t copyrightable to begin with? You cannot create law.
- Fair use does not affect something in the public domain-especially in Twitter’s case with material that is neither copyrightable nor copyrighted.
- Would some Tweets be copyrightable over others depending on what information they contain? Most likely not.
Lastly, Shinen ends by asking: what would you do even if you did own a Tweet?
Maybe this should be the real question to begin with, instead of if your Tweets are copyrightable.
If in theory your Tweet COULD be copyrighted, why should it? Why should you be the only one allowed to Tweet about how much traffic there is on interstate 5? Case and point.
While an interesting argument has arisen regarding copyright laws and Twitter, I’m with Mr. Shinen on this one: you do not personally have the legal ability to create or own a copyright.
So Tweet on about the weather, how delicious your lunch was, or how irritating the person sitting in front of you on the bus is, just don’t expect to receive copyrighted permissions any time soon.
