Copyright of image

[jellybabys]

Hello

Can i please ask for some advice, we have a blog that we hire people around to the world to write and add articles to are blog, one of the articles that was written for us used an image from another blog, we believe they asked permission to use the image and also we linked the blog home page saying "image source".

A large image company has sent me a letter saying that they own the image rights, and would like £1700.00 because we used the image, the article had been up for 6 weeks, they have given us no break down of the charges they just called it a "settlement demand".

The bit that is confusing me is that we did not know who owned the image as it just came from the other blog, the other blog did not say that this other company owned that image so we had no way of telling.

The company that does own the right said this does not matter as we should have found out and it comes down to the end user? and that even if we remove the image they still demand the fee.

Can they do this as we had no idea who owned this image other than the other blog using it? and can they just charge us what they like?

Thanks for any advice :)

[Fine French Foods]

I don't know the exact answer but:

If you employe the person who wrote the blog then you could technically be in trouble.

If they work freelance or have no work contract with you then I imagine the most the owner can do is make you remove the image.

It is especially beneficial that you linked back to the source rather than trying to pass it off as your own as it shows you were not trying to do wrong.

I personally would quickly speak to a solicitor and just see their thoughts.

[Antonia @limeone.com]

We have dealt with these cases in their droves and it is always the end publisher of the image who gets the demand for unlawful publication. Where images are provided by a third party your terms and conditions should cover them providing you with an indemnity if someone contests the use of the image so if there are any successful claims you receive payment from them.

So far we have successfully defended over 200 of these cases dependant of course on circumstances. If you want to send over the demand information to us at info@limeone.com we can advise you if we can help and how to proceed.