Like many businesses, your business probably has an eye-catching web site managed by a hosting or IT services company. This company may have even added slick pictures or graphics to make your web site stand out. If this sounds familiar, you may want to consider the hypothetical tale below to ensure that your web site hosting company has secured copyright permissions on your behalf to display third-party pictures and other copyrighted material. Otherwise, you may be accused of infringement by the copyright owners, which, if true, could end up costing you a tidy sum of money.
The Demand Letter
ABC Company receives a demand letter from an international firm that serves as a licensing clearinghouse for photographers. The firm claims that ABC's web site displays photographs that are only available for license through the firm, and that the firm has no record of ABC ever obtaining a license for those photographs. Hence, the firm claims that ABC has committed copyright infringement. The firm demands that ABC remove the photographs from the web site and that it pay several thousand dollars to settle the matter.
ABC balks at this demand. It is confident that its web site hosting company has used legitimate, licensed photographs on the web site. Upon investigation, however, the hosting company cannot produce any records of where the photographs came from or how they were purchased. The licensing firm has no record of the photographs being purchased by the web site hosting company either.
While ABC may be of the opinion that this dispute is between its hosting company and the licensing firm, the Copyright Act holds the entity publicly displaying or distributing the photographs, i.e, ABC, liable for infringement. Moreover, ABC's lack of knowledge as to whether the images were or were not licensed does not serve as an excuse under the Copyright Act. Ultimately, ABC's web site displayed the photographs at issue, and, therefore, ABC is solely responsible under the Copyright Act to ensure that those photographs were licensed.
Lesson Learned
ABC ultimately removed the photographs from its web site and settled the licensing firm’s demand for a significant sum. This illustration should caution you to audit your own web site, whether it is hosted in-house or by a third party, to ensure that all of the imagery and text on the web site is validly licensed or owned by your business. Otherwise, you may also be an unfortunate recipient of a similar demand letter.Not if, but how
Arnall Golden Gregory, LLP has significant experience in the area of copyright licensing and disputes. Do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of help to you.
