Memes
Memes have become a huge part of internet culture. Basically, anyone has the potential to make the next viral meme whether it be a new meme format, a bizarre image, or a funny video. What many of us may not be aware of, however, are the various potential legal issues at play when creating and uploading memes. These legal issues become more prevalent when you consider how memes are now often being used by businesses for marketing.
Copyright and Memes
Many memes incorporate an image or video that is copyrighted by someone else. Examples include scenes from films or TV, or photographs and illustrations. Luckily for us, by incorporating it into a meme the meme will usually fall under fair use and not infringe on the copyright of others. Fair use (in US law) or fair dealing (in UK law) is an exception to copyright infringement. Generally speaking, memes will fall under fair use because they are transformative and use the original work for the purpose of parody. Furthermore, many memes use copyrighted work in its entirety as is the case for photographs, memes usually do not affect the market for the original work and would not cause the original creator any financial loss. For many creators, having their creations featured in memes that go viral would actually be extremely beneficial for them as they would gain huge exposure.
There are a whole series of memes featuring this scene from the film American Psycho mostly unedited except for the addition of a caption or different music. Movie scenes have become an extremely popular source of meme content despite all the scenes in a movie being copyrighted.
Can you as a meme creator protect your own memes using copyright? For a meme to be protected under copyright it needs to be entirely your original work, and therefore memes using templates or incorporating copyrighted content cannot be given copyright protection. Unless someone is using a meme you created entirely by yourself without altering it all, it is unlikely you can claim copyright infringement.
Moral Rights
Aside from copyright infringement, when making memes you should be conscious of whether you are infringing on a copyright holder’s moral rights. Moral rights are a set of rights under copyright that prevent others from using copyrighted content even if they are fair use. One important moral right is the ability to protect works from derogatory treatment and distortion.
Sometimes people take things too far and examples of this include the use of Pepe as a mascot for alt-right and extremist groups. Having someone’s creation become associated with extremely controversial or offensive discourse can greatly harm their reputation. As a result, if you are making edgy memes that go too far, you should not be surprised when copyright owners start coming after you.
