I just came across this dislaimer on a site that has stolen/copied images from another site. I'm just wondering if their "disclaimer" is worth anything... that is, would it actually provide any protection at all. In my opinion people that run sites on a basis like this, is pretty low. Basically it's just another way of saying "catch me if you can". Not to mention that it's actually a way to get round legitimate copyright and trying to make it the copyright holders responsibility to prevent the site from using their images.
The way I understand it is that it is your responsibility to find out if any original work has a copyright on it. Whether there is a visible sign or not. Never assume anything is 'public domain' because the majority of it is not. Legally, the person holding the copyright can sue anybody with their material. I think most people put these on their sites in the hopes of the copyright holder contacting them nicely to remove it rather than sue them.
Personally what I think has happened here is someone has been reading up on the big 'public domain' craze and decided to see if they could make any money from it. You will find many website that sell public domain material have very similar disclaimers but the fact is that they just do not have a clue what is in the public domain or not. Regarding the disclaimer, it is not worth anything. Two year ago one of my clients (no longer with us) was sued and charged with copyright theft even though they had a disclaimer on their website. I spoke to the authorities involved in the case and they told me that "it does not matter if they had a disclaimer on their website, stealing copyrighted material is still theft, that's the fact". Like Troozer said always do the research first. It is not worth taking a chance.
Another note worth mentioning is to never assume a copyright has expired. The copyright has 70 years on it after the authors death. By then you will probably not even be alive or want whatever it is.
That's great to know. I'll make sure to tell the artists who they stole images from that the disclaimer isn't going to be any help to the scum. I just can't see how people can live with themselves after blatently stealing images... "public domain"... yeah right! I know for a fact that the site where some of the stolen images are from clearly states that each and every image is copyrighted... so how the heck could they miss that? As I said in my first post... basically just a lame attempt at getting past copyright.
Just something to add. My clent was UK based. I do not know what the laws are in the US about this sort of thing but I should not think that they are any different.
I am pretty sure that international copyright laws coexist in a manner that if you take something you did not create do not use it. Not entirely sure though.
In a word: no That disclaimer is like running a site that sells pot, cocaine and other stuff and saying: "By entering, you agree that you are not associated with the government, law enforcements or other associated entities. You agree to not tell anyone anything. You are responsible for your own actions. You will hold the site owner harmless of any criminal and civil violations." See how far that gets you.
If your site has copyright material on it and you do not have copyright owner permission on it you will have a problem if found for sure. No question. Copyright is copyright and maximum fine is $150,000 per violation. Easy to kill site with copyright material if you own the copyright and have proof.
Not knowing whether the work is copyrighted is not excuse for taking it. Say, you shoot a guy sleeping on a bench, go to court and say, 'judge, I shot him because I wasn't convinced he was alive anyway'. I doubt they'd let you get away with it
Unless, of course, a copyright notice is printed in Latin. In which case, y'know, you could be forgiven if you don't know what you're reading
Shouldn't it depend if his content is user submitted or submitted by himself? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230_of_the_Communications_Decency_Act Just wondering?