I was blamed for copying a photo from another website.

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NYC

So heres the problem recently I called and payed some people to host and design my website i found through the newspaper. These people have they own website
The did create my website and put some photos in. Little did I know they took this from another person's website without permission. Now the people that the photo belongs to is asking for $3600 for using their picture in 14 days or they will proceed with legal actions.
When i call the people who designed my site, they said dont pay attention to these people.
I already told the person who owned the photo that it wasn't me but it seems that they don't care.
What should I do, can i sue the people who designed my site?

Has the photo been removed from your website?
Does the photo have any kind of watermark or © on it?


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To those on this who know copyright law, I'm curious about a few things that would possibly pertain OP's situation:

I have called the company to take down the image. They were slow and took down the image about a week later.
I'm not exactly sure if it had a water mark on it.
btw the company that demands this is called superstock

Jendor said:

Does the photo have any kind of watermark or © on it?

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There is no requirement for it to be marked.

1. Would accuser have to prove OP/web designer/both had intent for stealing the photo (in order to have a possible successful case against 'advice132') from other persons website?

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No. This isn't a criminal trial. There needs be no intent shown. The fact that the site infringed on the copyright holder is enough.

With tools such as google image searches, I'd wonder if the OP's web designer even was certain of the the photos original source?

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Immaterial. Just because you found it on the internet doesn't make it public domain. In fact, the opposite is true. If you don't know exactly who the owner of the image is (e.g., you created it yourself or licensed it from a known source), it would behoove you to assume it IS THE COPYRIGHTED WORK of someone else.

2. Would accuser/photo content owner have to prove damages to have a realistic chance of a successful suit?

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Yes, but that's not going to b

3. Is "$3600" an ambiguous number, or something standard in this type of accusion?

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Ambiguous isn't the word. It's a determined number. Determined to cover the owner's losses, the costs of recovery, etc... It's also most likely set at a level where it is more advantageous for the infringer to pay up compared to the legal expense of a suit he is bound to lose.

Is it negotiable? Perhaps.


First suggestion: REMOVE THE INFRINGING PHOTO.
Respond to the owner that the misuse was inadvertant and the photo has been removed. You'll then have to wait to see if that appeases them, or if they will actually wish to pursue it in court.

Sue your web designer.