Copyright Law Suit

[David Fleegel]

Was just served papers for a lawsuit claiming an image on my website was not acquired legally. The Image appeared in a section of the website I do not have control over. I started with West World Media who was bought by Webedia, and now it says Box Office, but I think they are owned by Webedia too. Anyway just wanted to reach out and see if anybody has ever had this situation, and warn that so far I am not getting any help from Webedia/Box Office. If you have any pointers, ideas, or a Copyright lawyer that took care of this type of situation quickly I would appreciate any leads.

[Frank Cox]

I don't think your question is clear.

Do you mean that you hired a third party outfit to make a website for you and the third party may have used an image that was under someone else's copyright? If so then you should have a lawyer review your contract with that third party.

[David Fleegel]

Correct I use a Third party to provide a CMS Base site.. so I have control over some areas, but they have control over others, The Photographer who has filed suit, should have done a little more research to know that even though that my website mefordmovies.com owned by me isn't controlled by me.. of course Steven Ferdman may not care he just is looking for some easy money... My lingering question as I enter in to this is how does some individual claim copyright to an image that was clearly take during filming of a scene of the movie? I would think that photo belongs to Sony, or Marvel or disney.. so just was reaching out to see if anyone has experienced this, or maybe has received the same suit... I can't imagine I was the only website that the image was used on by Webedia/Box Office.

[Mark Lensenmayer]

This is not unique...I've heard of many other sites being served over this...apparently they do a reverse Google image search to find pictures. Copyright attorneys know how to deal with this. But, in any event, do NOT ignore the papers. You may need to file a response in a certain number of days or the accuser can file for a judgement. Your local attorney should be able to recommend someone to help with this.