Members uploading copyrighted content to my website

[skunker]

What is the name of your state? Texas!!!!

Hello,
I want to create a website about World War II photographs. The plan is to make the website a sort of social community where people can upload photos taken during World War II and then talk about the photos by leaving a comment. Think of this like Youtube for World War II photographs (but no video) with an educational slant.

While the majority of the photos will be public domain, I know that some people will be uploading photos taken from a history book (e.g. Time Life books), a foreign country's website, private source, etc.

Now, the questions:

1. Can I be held liable for items posted by my members?
2. What if I post google ads on the website and make money?

Thanks.

 

[FlyingRon]

You can be held liable. To decrease your liability, set up the appropriate reporting and removal system as stated in the DMCA and promptly remove anything you get notice on.

It makes no difference whether you post ads on the site or not.

 

[skunker]

FlyingRon,
Thanks for that info. May I ask what your credentials are?

It's amazing how many new sites are popping up that are throwing these copyright issues out the window. Everyone is hiding behind a DMCA these days.

In regards to it making no difference if a site has ads or not....I recently read a court case between LA TIMES and FREEREPUBLIC in which the latter site was posting entire news articles on their site for discussion among its members. FAIR USE was a big issue in the case and one of the things that tipped the court into LA TIMES favor was the use of Google ads on the FREEREPUBLIC website.

Do you know where I can read up more about DMCA and how to protect myself before I venture into this project? Thanks.

 

[divgradcurl]

http://www.keytlaw.com/Copyrights/dmca.htm

 

[divgradcurl]

In regards to it making no difference if a site has ads or not....I recently read a court case between LA TIMES and FREEREPUBLIC in which the latter site was posting entire news articles on their site for discussion among its members. FAIR USE was a big issue in the case and one of the things that tipped the court into LA TIMES favor was the use of Google ads on the FREEREPUBLIC website.

There are four factors to balance to determine whether or not a particular use is fair. Yes, whether or not someone is making money on a copied work mitigates against a finding of fair use -- but in this case, Freerepublic was using whole articles (which also mitigates against fair use), and the court found that having the whole articles available impacted the market for those articles -- and that's really the big one. Whether or not you make money by copying or posting a work without permission is far less important than if you are impacting the owner's market for the work.

Google "fair use" or 17 U.S.C. 107 for more informatin on "fair use."

 

[FlyingRon]

Further once you start arguing fair use you lose the safe harbor that you would have if you had removed the material when you got the notice of copyright infringement. At that point you lose any ability to say "hey I didn't have any responsibility for what my users do."

 

[skunker]

Flyingron, great point. THanks.

Divgradgirl, extra thanks for that fantastic DMCA article you linked--it answered my questions.

Question: Does DMCA protect you also from members uploading copyrighted content from foreign countries?

 

[divgradcurl]

Question: Does DMCA protect you also from members uploading copyrighted content from foreign countries?

It doesn't matter where the content was uploaded from, if you follow the rules in 17 USC 512(c), you should be fine.