Bebo
Posted on: Tue, 07/08/2008 - 09:00
Bebo
My first posting here, and would appreciate a little advice, or the benefit of other's experience.
I have read the FAQ incidentally which I found very informative.
11 of my images were portrayed on a Bebo user’s gallery claiming they were his, and of course with no permission from me.
Doubt it's worth pursuing the young person involved, as it was non commercial use.
I complained to Bebo who have removed the gallery - but the person still has their Bebo account, so no real worthwhile action that I can see. Also no reply from Bebo to me at all.
Has anyone any comments on this, and/or experience of Bebo's liability in such circumstances?
Any thoughts would be welcomed.
Dougie.
Dougie, sorry for taking so long to spot this message and approve it - it got stuffed into the spam pile.
The situation is uncertain with sites where there is mo moderatorial control of content posted by members. In general it's believed that so long as publishers act promptly to remove defamatory or infringing material once they have been made aware, they can probably escape liability. Since Bebo did so, there isn't much you can do. They will probably think it prudent to keep their heads down.
However the user does have liability : deliberate passing off someone else's work as your own takes the matter into criminal aspects of copyright law and they may have committed a criminal offence. Your difficulty however is that 'deliberate' : proof of intent is required, and there are any number of plausible fibs the user can invent to wriggle out of culpability. Standards of proof are higher for criminal prosecutions and costs ditto, nor do you get any damages, so you don't want to go that route except in desperately serious circumstances.
Still, if you are able to contact this person, it would be nice to point out the seriousness of what they have done, and that if they do it again you will prosecute.
©A admin
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