Copyright laws on memes, emojis, facebook statuses & images for book publishing

[allison.rcv]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN

At the encouragement of friends, I am compiling a humor book (coffee table style book) based on FB statuses I have posted about parenting (and life in general) over the past 5 years since I became a mom. My question is whether there will be any copyright issues with using my own words and photos taken from my own FB account? I do not specifically mention Facebook in the book, but I do mention things that my daughter likes, such as the names of movies she watches or TV show characters that she likes. Is that an issue?

And can I use screenshots of funny text message conversations as images in the book, or would that be an Apple copyright infringement? Are emojis copyrighted or can images of emojis be used in published books? I don't mean a generic smiley face, I mean the specific emojis created by Apple.

The book would be self-published and we are not talking about a huge profit here. Mostly those who would buy a copy are a few of my friends and others within my network. It's not heading for the bestseller list. I don't know if that matters but this isn't a professional project with lit agency representation.

I do have some experience in publishing so to me, the potential copyright issues with this project just about make it dead in the water. But I thought I would check.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN

At the encouragement of friends, I am compiling a humor book (coffee table style book) based on FB statuses I have posted about parenting (and life in general) over the past 5 years since I became a mom. My question is whether there will be any copyright issues with using my own words and photos taken from my own FB account? I do not specifically mention Facebook in the book, but I do mention things that my daughter likes, such as the names of movies she watches or TV show characters that she likes. Is that an issue?

And can I use screenshots of funny text message conversations as images in the book, or would that be an Apple copyright infringement? Are emojis copyrighted or can images of emojis be used in published books? I don't mean a generic smiley face, I mean the specific emojis created by Apple.

The book would be self-published and we are not talking about a huge profit here. Mostly those who would buy a copy are a few of my friends and others within my network. It's not heading for the bestseller list. I don't know if that matters but this isn't a professional project with lit agency representation.

I do have some experience in publishing so to me, the potential copyright issues with this project just about make it dead in the water. But I thought I would check.

A general rule to follow when it comes to copyrights: If you did not create it, it is not yours to use. Of course there are exceptions to this rule (for one example, a fair use of copyrighted material for educational purposes), but it is always legally safest to acquire permission - especially if your own work will be of a commercial nature.

Your own words and photographs you have taken have copyrights held by you so, if you do not infringe with your photographs on any privacy or publicity rights of people pictured in your photos, and if you do not invade the privacy of or defame anyone with your words, these are free for you to use in your publication. Speaking of real movies or books or places, even if these are protected under trademark law, can be done if you are simply using the trademarks in a descriptive sense only (using "Harry Potter" to identify a book series; "Frozen" to identify a movie; Dora the Explorer to identify a TV character). You cannot use these trademarks to promote your own work, however. These must be incidental and not the focus of your book (without risk of infringement, at any rate).

Emojis and memes, however, can have copyright protection and it will be up to you to determine if the ones you wish to use have a copyright holder whose permission you will need to obtain.

If your publication is centering on Facebook postings, you should review the terms and conditions of Facebook for legal rights and permissions.

Good luck.