F
FurnitureDoc
Guest
Hi,
I am one of a number of online distributors of a line of products. One of the other online distributors had color pictures instead of the black and whites supplied by the wholesaler. Finding no evidence anywhere on his site of any indication of a copyright statement, I followed the lead of another online distributor and used his pictures for our online catalog. He has known for several months (maybe a year) that this was happening, but something just prompted him to send us both an email asking what lawyer of ours his lawyer could contact as he intended to proceed against us. (Probably poor sales since we both have better sites than his!)
Even at this moment, there is still no statement of copyright ANYWHERE on his site (which I have printed off and dated). My understanding is that a copyright requires an active assertion of your intent to protect said material. That is, a statement that it is copyrighted.
I fully intend to replace these images within the next 30 days anyway and I think he's just bluffing (since he would have sent a certified letter he could be sure I got instead of an email if he were serious), but I'd like to not have to worry about this.
Also, I would like to know if his site is www.johnson.com and he and I sell hammers, can I register and promote www.johnsonhammers.com or www.johnson.net and use it is a site just to tell them how my prices are better than his and to go to my site? (Just in case this gets nasty!)
Thanks!
FurnitureDoc
I am one of a number of online distributors of a line of products. One of the other online distributors had color pictures instead of the black and whites supplied by the wholesaler. Finding no evidence anywhere on his site of any indication of a copyright statement, I followed the lead of another online distributor and used his pictures for our online catalog. He has known for several months (maybe a year) that this was happening, but something just prompted him to send us both an email asking what lawyer of ours his lawyer could contact as he intended to proceed against us. (Probably poor sales since we both have better sites than his!)
Even at this moment, there is still no statement of copyright ANYWHERE on his site (which I have printed off and dated). My understanding is that a copyright requires an active assertion of your intent to protect said material. That is, a statement that it is copyrighted.
I fully intend to replace these images within the next 30 days anyway and I think he's just bluffing (since he would have sent a certified letter he could be sure I got instead of an email if he were serious), but I'd like to not have to worry about this.
Also, I would like to know if his site is www.johnson.com and he and I sell hammers, can I register and promote www.johnsonhammers.com or www.johnson.net and use it is a site just to tell them how my prices are better than his and to go to my site? (Just in case this gets nasty!)
Thanks!
FurnitureDoc