When brands aggregate content for blogs, websites or campaigns they turn to crowdsourced or user-generated content (UGC) to fill space. What they may not have anticipated is the question of ownership and rights in a space that is generally considered open and sharing.

“Fortunately or unfortunately the internet isn’t a magic box of free content,” said Mike Linksvayer, vice president at Creative Commons, an organization that promotes the fair use license of digital artworks.

In order to prevent breaking any rules of intellectual property law or social media etiquette here are some ways to ensure everyone is on the same page:

1. Permission to use
It is always polite to ask before you use something that isn’t yours - same thing applies here. You also might want to think about covering yourself legally, so get it on paper, including from those in the image or video.

2. Courtesy Link
Links are a nice gesture, however unless the content is your own a link is likely not enough.

3. License equals safety
Creative Commons alone has six separate licenses all with their own stipulations. This is one time you will have to read the fine print.

4. Twitter feeds
Attorney Evan D. Brown from Hinshaw & Culbertson told AdAge that this is legally still a gray area, however through the use of mass social media tools where content can be syndicated, participants grant the world an implied license.

5. Contest liability
We have touched on this subject many times and the general consensus is that for every contest there is a chance that a participant may upload copyrighted material and you may not see it. However, if you are notified of the situation you should definitely take it down - otherwise, it’s on you.

6. Terms of Use
If we all know the rules upfront, then there shouldn’t be too many problems later on. Make it clear and make it fair.