May I share a newspaper article about my company?

You may not simply share a newspaper article about your company as a screenshot or scan on social media: the article is protected by copyright, and public reproduction is not permitted without permission. What you *can* do: link to the article (or embed it if it is freely accessible), include a short quote that supports your own text, or ask the copyright holder for permission.

If an article about your company appears, you will want to share it. Do not simply do so with a screenshot or scan: the copyright often lies with someone else, and you risk a claim. We will discuss your options.

Please note the copyright

Taking a photo of the article or posting a screenshot on your Facebook page is not a good idea: the article is protected by copyright because someone wrote it. Even if a photo of you accompanies it, you are not automatically the copyright holder of that photo. Therefore, you may not reproduce the work without permission — personal use (a home copy) is allowed, but not to share it publicly with customers and followers.

Also pay attention to work you created yourself: if you wrote an article for a trade journal, you are the creator, but you have often transferred the copyright to the publisher by agreement.

Linking is allowed

What is allowed, however, is sharing a link to the article — for example, on your Facebook page, so that followers can simply read it. On a website, you can sometimes embed the page, provided the content is freely accessible. If the article is behind a paywall, that won't work, and linking to an article in a physical newspaper is obviously not possible either.

You may quote, within limits

You may quote the article: not the entire piece, but one or more sentences. A quote must support your own information and must not be more important than the surrounding text — for example, write a press release yourself about a prize won and include a quote from a trade journal in it. A screenshot can also be a quote, but not an image of the entire article; the image must support your story and not be mere decoration. In practice, a verbatim quote is the safest option.

You may always ask for permission

You can also simply ask for permission. If you wrote the article yourself, you can include in the agreement that you may share it on your website and social media. Newspapers also often grant permission to share an article about your company — usually with the understanding that you wait a while (for example, a week), so that people can buy the newspaper first.

Frequently Asked Questions

May I share a screenshot of a newspaper article?

Not just like that. Public reproduction of a copyrighted article is not permitted without permission. Linking or a short quote is allowed, however.

May I share an article that I wrote myself?

Not automatically. You have often transferred the copyright to the publisher. Check your agreements or arrange permission to share it.

How do I share an article safely?

By linking to it (or embedding where freely accessible), placing a short supporting citation, or asking the copyright holder for permission.

Questions about copyright and sharing?

The copyright specialists at MKB Juristen advise you on how to safely share content or arrange permission. Schedule an intake meeting .