Sharing photos on Twitter is not a general authorization

Photos can be disseminated quickly and easily, in particular through social networks. However, they are protected by copyright. By sharing a photo on Twitter, a photographer does not automatically waive his claims. This has been confirmed by the Regional Court (LG) Munich.

The background to the decision was the unauthorized publication of a photo on a Facebook page. The user claimed that the photo had been freely available on various Facebook pages. She had also made a politically motivated tweet by the photographer, which contained the photo, the subject of a political response. Furthermore, the user invoked the right of quotation and the admissibility of use in the context of reporting on current events.

After the user was ordered to pay damages and legal fees in full in the first instance, she appealed. In justification, she argued, inter alia, that the use of the image constituted a permissible caricaturing or parodistic use of the image. Without success.

Regional Court (LG) Munich I: Sharing on Twitter is not a general authorization

By means ofjudgment of 20.06.2022 – 42 S 231/22the Regional Court (LG) Munich I confirmed the first instance judgment.

The defendant user reproduced the photo on her Facebook page and made it publicly accessible, thereby infringing the exploitation rights of the photographer.

No limitation provision applies to the use of the photos.

Reporting that has the work itself as its subject is not privileged. In the absence of engagement with the work, the use is also not justified by the right of quotation. The user cannot successfully rely on the current limitation provision for parodies, caricatures and pastiches. In distinction from impermissible plagiarism, parodies, caricatures and pastiches must exhibit perceptible differences from the original work. This is precisely not the case with an identical adoption of the image.

Even if the photographer had shared the photo on Twitter, he has by no means waived his copyright claims and, in particular, has not consented to any further processing. Sharing the photograph on Twitter does not entail a general authorization for the purpose of further dissemination. It may be left open whether the user would have been able to "retweet" the shared photograph, as this did not occur in the present case. The user did not disseminate the photograph via the "share function", but downloaded it from another page and re-uploaded it in a new context on her Facebook page. The sharing is thus irrelevant, as it describes the further sharing of already existing content within a social network and not the downloading and re-uploading of an original tweet on Facebook.

Conclusion

The unauthorized use of photos on the Internet regularly infringes the exploitation rights of the photographer. The fact that the photographer himself shared a photo via Twitter does not constitute a general authorization for further dissemination. Sharing also does not result in a waiver of copyright claims. Even if photos can be easily downloaded and re-uploaded in another network, this does not preclude the claims of the copyright holder. It is therefore advisable to inform yourself of the scope of your authorization to use before using the photos.