The importance of copyright in social media platforms.

Copyright is not what we first think about when engaging in social media networks, but it is something that could get us into lots of trouble. The notion of intellectual property is not considered when engaging in social media. Intellectual property is an original idea that someone comes up with and patents. 

Intellectual Property (IP) Law protects the products of the intellect from being commercially exploited by other parties.

I strongly feel that creative’s need to consider I.P. before posting material on virtual platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and creative blogs. I.P. overview looks at factors such as patents that protect ideas in industry releasable form. It can be any material from different industry music, film or art and design.

I have witness design work being exploited by other designers, factors like Trade Marks, badge of origin etc. I feel like commercial or personal owned design work can no longer be distinguished from that of competitors. I am quite aware that design can be trendy too in terms of the style that is currently appealing to the audience. Big name brands have filed law suits against each other because one may feel that the others product bears to much resemblance to their own e.g. Apple filing and winning an intellectual property lawsuit against Samsung. Early this year February 2013 to be precise kulula.com and South African airways underwent law suit, because of the controversial re-branding of their airline. Be wise protect your property before you post on your virtual platforms.

Source: 
http://socialmediatoday.com
http//Copyrights, Trademarks and Patents are all intellectual property rights.com
http://www.lawmart.com/forms/difference.htm