Even a few lines can be protected by copyright: The ECJ clarified that it is not the length of a text, but its individual intellectual design that is decisive.
A teacher posted a personal message on Facebook asking parents not to give her children gifts at the start of the school year. A journalist reprinted the post in its entirety, without permission, for an online newspaper's website. National courts questioned whether such a short social media post could even be protected by copyright.
The European Court of Justice clarified that neither the brevity of a text nor its publication on social media precludes copyright protection. The decisive factor is whether the text constitutes an original intellectual creation and expresses the author's personality. Even the exception for reporting on current events does not automatically justify the complete reproduction of someone else's text. Member States may restrict this use to short excerpts.
This ruling demonstrates that a short text is not automatically in the public domain. Social media posts can also be protected by copyright. Anyone using content from others should therefore generally rely on creating their own summary, using a permissible short excerpt, or obtaining the author's permission.
ECJ 03.09.2026, C-598/24