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Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscar Selfie: Who really owns it?

El selfie de Ellen en los Oscar

By now, you're probably familiar with 'The Selfie That Crashed Twitter.' Ellen DeGeneres' now-infamous tweet of a photo at the Academy Awards on Sunday night that broke the record for the most retweeted image ever, with 3.1 million retweets (so far), has courted a lot of buzz, and a growing number of controversies around it. There"s DeGeneres' use of a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 to take the pic, only to tweet from her iPhone back stage; there's the question of whether or not it was genuinely a spontaneous moment (I think we can safely agree it wasn’t).

But the latest question that has people scratching their heads: Who owns the Oscars selfie?

The Associated Press was recently granted permission by Ellen DeGeneres to use the photo, but that didn't sit well with people online. Was permission DeGeneres' to grant? There are actually a few different parties who could be considered the "owners" of the photo:

Ellen DeGeneres

Under Twitter’s terms of service, the person who tweets a photo would retain the rights to any content they submit, post or display through the service. By that understanding, DeGeneres is the photo's owner since it was posted to her Twitter account.

Bradley Cooper

As the person who snapped the picture, actor Bradley Cooper (short arms and all) would have a strong argument in favour of owning they photo's copyright, Poynter explains. Under U.S. law, photographers own the copyright to the images they take unless there is a signed contract to transfer the rights.

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Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences

The photo did happen at the Academy Awards, so it would be reasonable to assume that the Academy may lay claim to the selfie, too. But while they have very stringent policies for the use of video and audio from the show, still images aren’t mentioned. The Globe and Mail suggests DeGeneres could have signed over the rights to the photo as part of her hosting gig, but then quickly dismisses that notion, since under U.S. copyright law, the photo belongs to the photographer, and therefore the ownership couldn’t have been transferred by DeGeneres. Score another one for Cooper as the photo's true owner.

Samsung

Because of the heavy presence of Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 phone during the segment, many of us assumed that it was paid for by Samsung. Business Insider got to the bottom of things, and discovered we were all half right: Samsung was one of the major sponsors of the Oscars, and when they heard about what DeGeneres had planned, they offered her the phone to use during the segment. She reportedly wasn't obligated to use the phone – although I have to imagine having an Apple logo prominently displayed in the middle of the screen during a broadcast sponsored by Samsung wouldn’t have gone over so well.

So does Samsung own the photo? No. Their phone was used, but the segment wasn't a paid advertisement for them, so they don't have claim to their content. If being the company who made the phone was enough to claim ownership, Samsung, Apple and the other major smartphone manufacturers would have claim to a lot of your selfies, too.

The Verdict?

Considering all the players involved in this photo, Cooper comes out as the true owner of "Ellen's" Oscar selfie. As the person who took the photo, he retains copyright unless he legally transfers ownership to DeGeneres or anyone else. Poynter cites a court ruling that found the person who took the photo retains ownership even when it's posted to social media. You're in violation of that person's copyright if you take the photo and claim it as your own, or if you use the photo on another format or platform, like taking a screengrab of it. Since Cooper was the one who pressed the button, he's the photo's true owner.

Theoretically, DeGeneres will have to ask Cooper if she shows the image on her television show or elsewhere (although if she showed the tweet containing the photo, she could probably get by on a technicality). Chances are, though, that Cooper will be more than happy to share that photo without question.

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