Hi friends, There is a friend of mine say X who has a website (not legally registered). He has been getting works but not being able to get it done himself, so he used to outsource it to various companies or freelancers. Once he did it so and he found that a certain company (which is now in partnership with an European company) has used some of the works he outsourced them on their portfolio, even though he had verbally (I am guessing, not sure) told them not to use it on their website. Also, without mentioning his company (website name) they have even written a 'false' testimonial, as if he had written it. Friends, what do you think he must do? If not for the portfolio, but for the testimonial (that is falsely put under his name) how can he sue them? Your advise is appreciated.
No, he couldn't possibly do it. Person can't take legal action without proper registration. Even if you are register business, still you have 50-50 chance to take down testimonial ( or say less than 1% ). he must have to apply for proper "brand protection" in order to take down this type of issue. Just call them, say your are already register firm. We are thinking to send you notice regarding to our privacy violation, we gave you 7 day in order to take down our content. Try to done this with mutual understanding.
I could put the same testimonial on my website even though I've done none of the work at all. It's then up to you to get a lawyer and start making the kind of legal threats required to scare me into complying. It is an expensive process, even more expensive when the other party is a) in a different country; or b) in a country like India where legal threats are typically ignored. The fact that he hasn't run his business through an official company opens him up for personal liability if the client sues him for not doing the work as contracted (I'm guessing he didn't tell them he was outsourcing).
Thank you SpyShifu and sarahk. I think it made sense to conclude that he has no strong evidence to fight against the other company. And yes Sarah, I feel that he might have only told the client that he is outsourcing to some developers but not to a full fledged company like that. Thank you both once again.
If your friends name was used without his permission it is fraud. And is big in most countries. Using someones words or names without there permission is illegal in any country. The only issue would be proving he did not say it or allow them to use it.