Herding cats (aka copyrighting a Meme)

“Memes are, without a doubt, the greatest thing about the internet.” This quote comes from an article by Squire Sanders, Richard Pascoe, Richard W. Horton and Alex Butterworth, “Memes in advertising: a copyright mess.”I don’t know if I agree that memes are the greatest thing, but one of the biggest things? Yes. As the authors state, there is an entire sub-culture of the English speaking world that exists around memes. Memes are so popular they’ve become an expected and accepted means of communication. Photoshop users can easily make their own. If you lack photoshop skills you can visit sites like Quick Meme, where users can choose from a bank of images, type their own caption, and then post on the social media site of their choice. For those of you who don’t what a meme is, trust me, you do—you’ve been sharing them on Facebook and just didn’t know what the official name was. (See What is a ‘Meme’?)It’s no wonder that advertisers want in. Some examples of campaigns are Sprint’s use of Nyan Cat, Nissan’s planking commercial, and Wonderful Pistachio’s Keyboard Cat Commercial. However some have found themselves in trouble—including Warner Brothers for their use of Nyan Cat and [Keyboard Cat] in their top selling ‘Scribblenauts’ games. Many feel this is ironic in light of their strong support of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and the diligence with which they track infringement of their own copyright and trademarks.Copyright ownership of a meme is typically shared between the owner of the image and the person who created the meme. This is where it can get difficult—sometimes proving next to impossible to track this information down. Even if you find the creator of the meme, you still need to find out if they have permission from the owner of the image and/or a photo release.If a company chooses to use the meme without permission they are taking a risk. Even if they do find the copyright owner and get permission, it doesn't mean they won't face more legal problems. Memes are very often offensive. The way the meme is used might trigger copyright infringement or defamation. Another thing to consider is that although attributing your work to the original creator is not required by law, it can help keep a meme creator out of an infringement lawsuit.What do you think? Have you used memes personally, commercially? More importantly, why do so many memes use Impact?Sources:http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=879e138f-c98b-4eb2-a55f-0037cf2ed906http://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2013/05/03/warner-brothers-sued-for-infringing-cat-meme-copyright/http://www.livememe.com/mdsuaoxhttp://userinterfaced.com/why-are-memes-popular/http://www.worldipreview.com/article/internet-memes-copyright-licensing-in-an-ip-minefieldhttp://www.insidecounsel.com/2013/06/21/technology-internet-memes-pose-legal-questionshttp://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2013/05/07/copyright-memes-and-the-perils-of-viral-content/http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/25/tech/social-media/image-macros-memes-impact-font/index.html