Copyright Infringement - Pictures/Images - Canada

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine own/runs a business and has images of models (themselves) on their website. A local competitor stole the exact model pictures and posted them on there own website. They also have the images posted on their Facebook business page.

I'm assuming this is a case of copyright infringement, am I correct?

I will contact them at least 3 times before further action is necessary.

My question for you guys is...what would be the next steps if they ignore my requests to remove the images?

I read that I should contact the webhost of the site and report to them. I found this page for Facebook to report to - http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=157024904418383

I read that the DMCA applies to U.S only, is this true? The owner of this site is Canadian based. I couldn't find a copyright act for Canada.

Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thank You,
D

 

First, this is not a copy-writing issue. That deals with writing copy. This should be posted in the legal section. You should flag your post and ask it to be moved.

As for the question itself. I am not sure why you are doing it and not the friend who owns/runs the website. The demands would make much more sense coming from him. Does your friend own the images in question (did he take the photos) because if so, then he can easily demand that they be removed. Whether or not DMCA applies would depend on whether any of the parties involved (the competitor, his web host, etc.) are US based. It is a US law. Under Canadian law one cannot simply copy photos owned by someone else so you could easily pursue and action there but the DMCA might not apply.

However, if your friend does not exclusively own the rights to the photos and merely has a license to use them, he is in a trickier position. In a case like that, while the competitor may have stolen the pictures, he is infringing on the owners rights and not your friends. In a case like that he should report the image to the party from whom he licensed the photos so they can take appropriate action.

How is that possible? Simply search "copyright act for Canada" in Google and official sites as well as a Wiki page come right up.

 

I would think there are three issues at play here - copyright infringement for the site, copyright infringement of the photographer and the rights of the models to their likenesses (i.e. no signed model release).

Don't understand how you couldn't possibly find the Canadian Copyright act. One search on Google.ca led me to it - http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-42/index.html

 

Request it to be removed by getting the whois information from the domain. You need to send the request in the mail because it's more professional. Location isn't a huge issue... and YMC pointed out where to look already. Normally it won't take a long time for it to be removed after the first mailing. Best of luck hun!

 

You will need to issue a DMCA notice for each URL/Image that was copied, could be lengthy.

 

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization. While Canada may have something similar since it is also a party to the WIPO treaties, the DMCA itself doesn't really cover an infringement in Canada. On the other hand, if the host is in the U.S. it may honor the DMCA notice anyway.

 

Post the infringer's site so it can be sussed out accordingly and "Streisand Effect" him in the process for starters. You have a few options here but, thus far, you should really only listen to the kind fellow above me. Most US based hosting companies like Hostgator will fold like a lawn chair when they get these sorts of things(problem solved). Having been on both sides of this ordeal I am happy to help though.

Nigel

edit: YMC has a clear point as well actually