Copyright Aid

Dear Andy,
I am writing to ask for your thoughts and advice on my case to see if there is anything else I can be doing. I have given quite a lot of details on this post, but can answer any questions that you may have. Just not sure if its a good idea to have this public while we are arguing about the validity of the claim.
I was in charge of a website for a number of years. Out of the blue earlier this year I received an email from a French Law firm saying that they have a client looking for compensation as an image was published on our website without permission.
I replied and tried explaining to them that this is a hobby site, not commercial, any images were used in good faith, no copyright infringement was intended and also that we have no funding for it. However, they stuck to their original claim of a few thousand euros.
I have researched the solicitors and they seem to be genuine. Can not find anything on the claimant at all, but am still working on it.

So, I searched and found your helpful and informative site and forum. I was in touch earlier this year after seeing a case on the forum almost identical to mine. (Rebecca in June 2023) I read your advice and kept an eye to see if there was an outcome. Don't seem to be anything yet.

Meanwhile, I instructed an intellectual property lawyer, which I could not really afford, but thought the best way to deal with the situation. A lengthy email was sent (including points 1 to 4 below) explaining the situation and that as the website/blog was UK based they would have to deal with it in the UK courts, etc, etc. Also it was mentioned how and where the images had come from and that we had not modified it. We also made a very reasonable counter offer to hopefully end this nonsense. Few months went past and all quiet, and you guessed it, they are back insisting that it will be going through French courts and that they await the full settlement.
Please note,
1) The image was removed the moment I found out, it had no permission to be used.
2) After looking into where it had come from, I realized it was part of a blog one of our contributors had sent in over 10 years ago! The person who sent this in to us, was a regular and very active contributor, who sadly passed away 3 year ago.
3) Digging even deeper, I noticed that the image was taken from Google images which I tracked to another website in another country. I can distinguish this clearly as the images has a distinct fault on it. I also have the publication dates so it's quite clear where it had come from and certainly not from a French site.
4) The image is still on the website mentioned in point 3, and various places on ebay used for advertising other products.
5) The website and all its content was closed down as I could no longer trust anything that was contributed to it by the many people keeping it going and certainly can not go through this stressful situation again.
6) In case someone related to the case sees this post, I am happy for it to be removed/hidden or commented in private
Many thanks. GH

Hi George,

I'm sorry to hear that the letter your solicitor wrote did not lead to a settlement, as it no doubt cost you quite a bit of money. Did the IP solicitor know that the image had been posted by a contributor to your site? If he did, then this fact should have gone into the letter to the French law firm, and it should have been pointed out to them that you personally would have been protected from liability by Articles 14 and 15 of the EU Electronic Commerce Directive (2000/31 EC), because the website was an information society service. Article 14 says that the provider of such a service, such as a forum or social media site (eg Facebook), shall not be liable for any infringing postings by third parties unless it had the knowledge at the time of posting that the material was infringing, and thereafter acted expeditiously in removing the material once they were informed of the material's infringing status. Article 15 says that there is no obligation on the sevice provided to proactively monitor postings before publication. In many ways these provisions mirror how the better-known US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) operates.

If the claim is dealt with in the French courts, then you will have an opportunity to defend it. You would not have to appear in person, but it would obviously be better for you to be legally represented there. Needless to say the cost of that would probably exceed to amount the French law firm are currently seeking, so not really a viable option. If you ignore any correspondece from the French court and do not lodge any defence at all, the judgment will almost certainly go against you, but any award of damages could not be directly enforced against you. Instead the claimant would need to go through English court system to get an enforcement order against you, as you are outside the jurisdiction of the French Court. This would involve them in additional cost over and above what they had already paid in legal costs in France in order to bring the case in the first place. It doesn't take a degree in economics to see that this is a large gamble if the amount being claimed is only a couple of thousand euros (say £1500).

Unfortunately the word gamble is entirely appropriate here. Both sides need to maintain a poker face until one or other of them folds. That is not legal advice so much as an observation on the real life situation.

As you may have seen from my earlier reply to Rebecca, and in other related threads, I am prevented by law from providing legal advice on which you then conduct your litigation, since we do not have a lawyer/client relationship and I cannot carry out due diligence via a public forum. However I hope I have given some information about the law in general which may assist you.

Bon chance.

Dear Andy,

Thank you for your detailed and prompt response. Can't remember how much was said in the email about who had posted the image as it is a long time ago, but I'm going to check the response we made to the claimant's solicitor and see.

So grateful for your response and advice. I'll keep you updated.

Regards, George