Facebook Copyright Copy & Paste Hoax

You have probably seen it sometime in the last 24-48 hours. It encourages Facebook users to copy and paste a 3-paragraph copyright "public notice" on their wall indicating that their personal material cannot be used without direct consent as it has just become protected under copyright. The notice cites the "Berner Convention" as the basis for its protection.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a Berner Convention, only the Berne (or Bern) Convention of 1886, which was an international convention held in Europe where the international copyright agreement (treaty) was established between the European countries of Berlin, Rome, Brussels, Stockholm, and Paris. What makes this copy and paste "notice" a hoax is if taken seriously it illegally infringes upon the intellectual property of the copyright agreement and if leadership from any of the countries wish to pursue sanctions or get the United Nations involved, they could if they wanted to. This isn't case law, so merely citing the agreement made between international countries outside of one's allegiance does no good for one's own personal sake.

If you really have the desire to copyright the material you publish on Facebook and you live in the United States, please refer to the U.S. government copyright website for laws, regulations, filing procedures, and fees. Good luck!