I think the apple's rotten right to the core... Intellectual Property and Social Media

 After learning a little bit more about intellectual property, it made me think more about intellectual property within social media, and specifically TikTok.

Something that I see happen pretty often on TikTok (and saw on Twitter when I used to use it), is one creator posting a TikTok telling a story or posting an opinion. Ten scrolls later, I see the exact same story/opinion again, done word for word, expect its from a totally different creator. The sad thing, is that I've seen this been done countless times and I'm sure that if I were to go scroll on my feed for a while, I'd see it happen again. I'm wondering how intellectual property works for things like this, and if any laws have been made for specific examples like this. 

This also reminded me of another situation. TikTok creators are known to take short, catchy parts of a song and create a dance to it. This helps the songs go viral, and often leads to many other users recreating it and posting it. Maybe a year ago, there was a TikTok dance created by Kelley Heyer to Apple by Charli XCX. That dance blew up and there were even a number of celebrities who participated in the trend. Well, back in April of this year, it was revealed that the creator of that dance is suing the popular online game, Roblox. Allegedly, Roblox began selling the dance on their platform as an "emote" that players of the game could use, without Kelley Heyer's permission. Does this infringe on her intellectual property? Roblox claims that they take intellectual property seriously and haven't done anything wrong, while Heyer claims she was in talks with Roblox to license the dance for the game but they never came to an agreement. I think there's a lot of ground to break with intellectual property in dance and social media itself. I'm interested to see where this lawsuit goes and what is determined by the courts. 

Comments

  1. nickinickelzJune 13, 2025 at 11:59 AM

    The lines of intellectual property can be very blurry in the age of TikTok. Since social media thrives on trends and virality, creators are walking a fine line between inspiration and imitation.
    I didn't know about the Kelley Heyer vs. Roblox case! I feel like dance, in particular, has always existed in a gray space when it comes to copyright protection. It reminds me of earlier controversies with viral TikTok dances, like the Renegade, being popularized without crediting Black creators. As platforms and companies monetize this kind of creative work, the stakes get even higher.

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    Replies
    1. LydiaJune 15, 2025 at 2:30 PM

      Hi! Yes, I totally remember the whole controversy with the Renegade. I'm glad the original creator got their credit, and now it's great to see those bigger creators learning from that and crediting creators now. I agree that it is very blurry on TikTok. I'm interested to see if there will be more strict laws created around it!

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