Instagram Gets Copyright Lawsuit Over Embedding Tool Dismissed

Instagram LLC convinced a federal judge in California on Friday to tentatively toss a proposed class action alleging the social media giant’s embedding tool induces third-party publishers to display works posted by Instagram users without paying them, infringing the users’ copyrights.

Alexis Hunley sued Instagram in May, alleging its corporate parent Facebook Inc. created the tool to expand Instagram’s presence on third party websites and therefore get revenue.

The complaint argued that, by encouraging online publishers like BuzzFeed.com and Mashable.com to use the embed tool, Instagram is secondarily liable for copyright infringement on those platforms.

But under Copyright Act precedent, ...