Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : copyrights...

[luseid]

Well I have a web site that allow users to upload photos of many category. and I think that some of the photos uploaded may be copyrighted. but I'm not to sure either.
should I delete them? will I get sue by the owner or what?

[axx2k]

From what I have always seen, if somebody has a problem, they will email you direct first. Nobody can just plain sue ya without attempting an easier method first.

Generally people who are very concerned also put a copyright or 'watermark' on images. look for those kind of things.

Keep in mind that if you can find out the source, they may allow you to post them if you just ask them first.

[intellec]

Originally posted by luseid
Well I have a web site that allow users to upload photos of many category. and I think that some of the photos uploaded may be copyrighted. but I'm not to sure either.
should I delete them? will I get sue by the owner or what?

Ask them for the copyright certficate or verification of assignment.
Also try a search here http://www.copyright.gov/records/cohm.html

[blue27]

If this is a site showing celebraties and it's getting a lot of traffic you can probably expect a call from some lawyer or another. I think that you are ultimately responsible for the content of your site regardless of who uploads the content.

[Tropical Tundra]

Place a disclaimer and warning against uploading copyrighted material to protect yourself. Also provide an email address like: abuseATyoursite.com to allow the copyright to ask that you remove a specific image IF they provide evidence that they're the legal owners and that they want it removed. That should cover you and gives the legal owner a way of having their images removed if they so request it.

[hekwu]

Originally posted by arpmn
Place a disclaimer and warning against uploading copyrighted material to protect yourself. Also provide an email address like: abuseATyoursite.com to allow the copyright to ask that you remove a specific image IF they provide evidence that they're the legal owners and that they want it removed. That should cover you and gives the legal owner a way of having their images removed if they so request it.

I've been doing the same (hosting unknown images) for 5 years.... bottom line: you can you be sued... yes.

But many people will ask you to remove images before going to a lawyer. Most will ask for the image / graphic to be removed or ask for a link to their link placed on your site... unless you are rich, then we are in a new ball game.

It is all about money. If someone has a perception they can get money from you and watch out....

[Tropical Tundra]

Originally posted by hekwu
I've been doing the same (hosting unknown images) for 5 years.... bottom line: you can you be sued... yes.

But many people will ask you to remove images before going to a lawyer. Most will ask for the image / graphic to be removed or ask for a link to their link placed on your site... unless you are rich, then we are in a new ball game.

It is all about money. If someone has a perception they can get money from you and watch out....

We live in one of the most litigious countries in the world (USA) anyone can sued for anything! By putting a disclaimer it helps but in no way will it shield you from a lawsuit.

[RackNine]

Wow, 6 responses and no mention of the DMCA.

You as the provider are hosting these images on behalf of the uploader. If a copyright violation is found the owner must contact you directly notifying you of this. Thereafter you must suspend/remove the content and contact the uploader giving them a chance to respond to these allegations.

It's a fairly simple process, most larger companies have templates for DMCA notifications. We receive emails every once in a while from companies like Microsoft about these content violations, while piracy is a little more obvious than stolen images then end result of removing stuff and not getting sued is the same

...Mind you only parts of our network are covered by the DMCA, thank goodness for Canada!

Sincerely,

-Matt

[Neppie]

Hi all,

I have been running a website a few years now, featuring a certain celebrity. I never ever had to remove a picture untill now. I know of websites who had to do that though but all were contacted first. Lawsuits are mostly mentioned as a threat only, to force you to remove the content. My pictures are mostly scans from magazines. Some magazines see it as free advertising, others see it as copyright violations ... you can never be sure. However, placing a disclaimer with contact info is a good thing to do. Be sure not too post the whole content of a magazine article (including interviews) and wait with uploading it untill the magazine has released a new issue (they might feel you will reduce the amount of sales from a certain issue).

Luckily I live in The Netherlands, the lawsuit culture does not exist here. Dutch people like to negotiate first

[Alex042]

If you setup an approval process where someone has to approve each upload before they show, you can weed through the uploads and reject the obviously copyrighted ones. Many photogallery scripts offer this as a feature.

[sprintserve]

Originally posted by RackNine
Wow, 6 responses and no mention of the DMCA.

A good source of information on this:

http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/faq.cgi#QID129

There are some criteria you have to satisfy to fall under the Safe Habour provisions.

[essexguy]

it all comes down to if your are personally profiting from copyrighted material, or if by you using copyright material you are affecting the revenue of the content owner.
This often dictates whether you are sued or just asked for the content to be removed. In your case, i would expect you would recieve a email saying "please remove blah blah".