I started a website awhile ago called "Hot Facebook Girls," it was set up like a blog and anyone could register and upload stuff. Each post was basically just a girl's name and a bunch of pictures of her. In the disclaimer I stated that you can only upload pictures of either yourself or someone who you have received permission from to upload their pictures, although a lot of users disregarded this and just uploaded pictures of random girls from Myspace/Facebook/Google Images/etc without the girls' knowledge. Although this wasn't the direction I had originally planned for the site, the fact that people were "stealing" girls' pictures meant that there were a lot more posts which led to a lot more traffic and a lot more advertising revenue. Obviously unethical but since it was making a lot more money I decided I didn't really care and I just turned a blind eye. After awhile some of the girls found out and complained (there was a "report" feature under each post that basically said we'd immediately take down any post that was reported) and I decided to shut the site down. I asked a friend if it's actually illegal and he said it might be defamation, although I'm not sure it is because they were just using pictures, not saying anything bad/untrue about the girls, and the pictures used were already publicly available by the girls putting them on their Myspace profiles and such. I guess it could also be a copyright violation, BUT (a) 17 USC 512 seems to be saying that if I'm not actually doing the uploading myself and I take down reported posts, it's fine (I'm not a lawyer so I don't understand all the legal speak but that's what I got from it), and (b) couldn't it be fair use? So I'm wondering, is a site like that actually illegal? If it is, would I as the site owner be responsible for what other people upload to the site? Thanks.What is the name of your state?
You can be held responsible for the content on your site. YouTube has several large lawsuits against them even though they are not uploading the content and remove it when it is reported. Removing the image when someone has complained will usually satisfy the person, however, they could choose to sue you.
The fact that people are using my site for a purpose other than what it was intended for doesn't make me less responsible? So if someone steals your Myspace pictures, you can sue Tom?
YouTube TOS doesn't allow the uploading of copyrighted material, yet it happens, and they are being sued. The chances of someone suing you are likely very slim if you immediately remove the image, but it can happen. Even if you are able to win your case, you are still out legal fees. If you hire a web designer and tell them only to use pictures that they have permission to use, and it turns out they used copyrighted images without permission, you, as the site owner, are still liable for damages to the copyright holder. I would put up a notice that is very clear that the image the user intends to upload must be done by the copyright holder, that images "found on the net" are not allowed to be upload, and that you will turn over their IP address if the image was not theirs and you are contacted by the copyright holder and that they can be liable for substantial monetary damages for copyright infringement.