New Law Could See Internet Memes Fall Under Copyright Protection
If one thing is certain, it is that the internet is absolutely flooded with memes. Be it images, videos or gif’s, you’ll struggle to go for too long, particularly on social media, without encountering one.
They are, however, a somewhat fickle thing with the community. While some have remained popular for years, others (such as Harambe or Ugandan Knuckles) tend to only have a brief but fiery life on the internet.
In a report via the BBC, however, that could all be about to change. New proposed law by the EU could see internet memes fall under copyright protection. Therefore, the replication of the image of a meme could be an illegal act of piracy!
Will this happen?
Personally, I doubt it. While the law could indeed play a part in this, I think memes have become too common on social media for users to simply stop using them. Currently, memes are (sort of) protected by the fair usage in terms of parody. There are, however, those who have been fighting hard for such protections of their IP’s.
One of the more notable instances of this recently is the creator of Pepe The Frog attempting to stop his character being used for meme purposes or as a figurehead for the alt-right. You can imagine how well that went down with the internet community.
While this law could potentially come into place, I think it will simply be too much work to police. Let’s face it, the war against piracy isn’t exactly being won on the internet, why do they think this would be any more successful? As above though, if one of your creations was being used without your permission, regardless of the usage, I doubt you would be entirely happy unless you were getting paid for it.
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments! – In the meme-time (see what I did there?) post as many as you can!
