Hi all,

I'm about to purchase a web design from an individual that listed here in WHT.
The design is very nice, and the person seems reputable, although they themselves
are not a web hosting company.

My concern is, I'm in the U.S. and this individual is in Europe. Is there any way
to protect myself if for some reason it is later found that the images and/or site
design itself was not an original work by the author (i.e., they stole it). I know
a 'contract' would provide some protection in a U.S. to U.S. case, but I'm not so sure
it would here.

The last thing I want to do is to purchase a design with the graphics and later find
I have to take it down because it was stolen from someone else, or worse, find myself
getting sued because I purchased a stolen design.

Any thoughts here? I really do feel the person is trustworthy, but the Internet is a
bad, bad place!

Thanks.

A contract is ALWAYS a good idea, regardless of the home location of the parties. I have done international work and they are enforceable, although the difficulty/cost in doing so if breached varies and may prove prohibitive.

Make sure the contract stipulates that the design you are buying is an original work custom designed for your use and all rights are yours with no title entaglements. While it may be difficult/expensive for you to go after the designer if they defraud you, such a contract can protect you from litigation as an innocent third party should they indeed have stolen intellectual property and misrepresented it. The proper owner then has no recourse but to sue the designer, not you.

My experience, YMMV

I'm no attorney, but I think as long as the contract states something along the lines of
"This contract will be governed by the Laws of the State of _____________". or
some clause about jurisdiction, there should be no problem making it binding
regardless of where the designer lives. As mentioned however, an international legal
battle could get costly.