Copyright issues but a client won't listen

eddypeck

Member
Hi, on one of the websites I manage the client keeps asking me to make updates and he always sends images that he's grabbed off Goggle.

I've tried to explain about copyright numerous times, and he either doesn't care or doesn't understand the issue.

It upsets me every time he does it, and each time I say about it but I just wondered where I stand legally.

I have it documented in emails that I have sent to him saying that it shouldn't be done, and pointing out the legal issue and I have also stated "As long as you’re happy that the liability falls with you then I’ll carry on doing what you ask."

If someone came across the site and started to cause a fuss, is there any come back on the designer/developer or even hosting company or is it all down to the owner of the website? Do you think I've covered myself with what I have said. Providing I keep the audit trail or the fact that I'm facilitating this action does it come back on me or my company?

thanks in advance.

Does anyone else get this problem?
 
A company I used to work at used an image from their former site that had done and used an image of a woman with shopping bags.
It was a Getty image and I don't think they'd transferred the license so Getty found it and did them.

The developer wasn't called to question but the company I used to work for "client" got stung.

I think if to spell out the the images are supplied by the client and the responsibility is theirs to acquire the correct licence then it's their problem.
 
Is it that black and white though? Does it not also come down to what the images are being used for? For example, you can go onto 10 different random blogs and I bet 8/10 of them are using images from Google...

Some Google images are copyright free, or free to use with modification, you just have to check the licenses. I suggest you try to persuade your client to use images with a suitable license if he/she is insistent on using images from Google.
 
This is the exact reason I have in my terms and conditions a bit similar to the below...
While 'I' have done everything I can to ensure that the supplied work does not infringe any trademark, copyright or patents, it is the responsibility of the client to ensure that this is the case for all potential countries of use. If work is later found infringing the responsibility lies with the client and additional charges may be applied to fix or alter said work. Or words to that effect anyway and obviously you make it clear during conversations.

Why is this in my t&c's... simple, there are so many different things you can infringe on these days. Each country has their own set of trademarks, copyrights and patents, let alone their individual nuances for each area. You then have the internet where you can find pretty much anything but 90% of the time it doesn't have any link to who did it etc so you could be grabbing something, even from an image site, where the ownership and usage is restricted etc. Basically design is a huge minefield these days so better to protect yourself than run the risk :)
 
If the client is harvesting images from the web then it's really difficult to find out where they're original from and unless they're getting them from the source you'll never know what the license is.

Someone could buy an image from Shutterstock and place it on their site and someone could grab it from there and so on and so on.

Image companies have bots that trawl the web searching for images based on their algorithms which is how the company I used to work for got stung.

As @Levi says really.

Put in your T&C's that it's the clients responsibility.
 
Thanks for the comments guys. The client has at least acknowledged the issue now maybe I'll get him to see sense, and perhaps get a few hours extra work out of him replacing the images with legit ones.

If it was a case of him giving me an image to use then I could deny responsibility but in this instance he often directs me to websites or a google image link (which ultimately leads to a website) to take the images on his behalf as he's technically inept, the concept of "right click, save as" is too much for him. So I'm the one doing the taking, and to me it's morally wrong.

When I can I'll use a 'similar' image from a free image site and force the point that I cannot use the image he suggested, but it's not always possible.
 
take the images on his behalf as he's technically inept, the concept of "right click, save as" is too much for him. So I'm the one doing the taking

I wouldn't do this if I were you. That is a big no-no. Seeing as this is the case, what you should do is contact the owner of the website (or image) and ask their permission to use the image. If they say no, or ask for some kind of compensation, you then relay this message onto your client. I doubt your client is paying you enough to take such a risk (not that any amount of money would be worth it). At the end of the day, your client is literally getting you to steal for him, there are no two ways about it. The fact that by the sounds of it, you are getting paid for it too is even worst.
 
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