Printing images for customers & copyrights - HTML Forums

myrothantos · 05-07-2009, 04:54 AM

My girlfriend does graphics and printing work and she wants to try making a small website to allow people to send in an image and then she'll print it on a bag, umbrella, etc., that kind of thing.

The question comes in with copyrights. How can we know if an image we're being sent is copyrighted? Obviously (I think), it would be illegal to receive money for doing this if the product we're selling contains a copyrighted image, such as a movie or game character. Although, we wouldn't be advertising any specific copyrighted images on the site itself, it would be a small operation (not even automated, it'll be done by personal e-mail requests) that says, "you send us your the image you want printed and we'll print it on your item and send it to you." From there it would just be a person-to-person contact system. And we don't exactly have a database of every copyrighted image in the world, so I can see possibilities for being deceived into thinking it's a legit image that person created, and so on. How can we avoid this? Can any kind of disclaimed make us not responsible if we're "caught" and don't realize it? I'm guessing not, so I'm not just looking for a blunt "no can do" answer, but perhaps some advice from you web experts on alternatives to do the same thing but completely legal (if what I'm suggesting isn't already legal).

We live in Japan, so the laws here could possibly be a little different (though I doubt it, most other laws in this area are the same, such as illegal downloading, recording of movies in theaters, that sort of copyright stuff).

Horus_Kol · 05-07-2009, 09:31 PM

you need to have a clear declaration in your customer agreement/contract that they are responsible for any copyright issues from imagery and content that they provide you for printing - and they need to sign a declaration that they own the material they are asking you to print.

other than that, there's not a lot you can do, and as you are working under contract and have those declaration, you should be covered...
however, you can still get caught up in legal proceedings - so make sure to keep those signed agreements and declarations on hand should you need them.

myrothantos · 05-07-2009, 10:18 PM

Thanks for the reply!

I'm new at all of this, and we're not even sure if we're going through with it, but I just want to cover all of the bases and the stupid questions if it's going to reduce the risk of getting sued/jailed/etc. before we start to get serious.

When you say "sign" the declaration, will a check box that says "I agree to the terms" and whatnot suffice, as you see on many websites and EULA's? Since this will start as a tiny, "for fun" operation, will e-mail correspondence in which the person says, via an e-mail, that the attached image is their own? Going through the paces to get a physical signature seems a bit much, but if that's what it takes, we'll do it!

Thanks again!

Horus_Kol · 05-10-2009, 07:17 PM

I think email is the better option - it leaves a trail (even if the sender or receiver deletes it, you can still track it through mail server logs), and I believe that an emailed agreement carries as much weight in court as a signed document (as long as it is clear who is agreeing to what).

However, a lot of sites out there that take user contributed content (YouTube, www.sxc.hu, etc) simply have the form and checkbox - but in conjunction with at least a registered username and contact email.

myrothantos · 05-13-2009, 12:15 AM

Excellent info! Thanks a lot!

ChiefLee · 05-25-2009, 04:14 PM

Hello myrothantos.

We list in our terms and conditions on our site that our customers must have permission to use logos. But truthfully, just use some common sense as well.

We had one customer try to take the Walmart logo, and make it say Walsuck instead. We refused to print the item since it was too close to Walmarts legally protected logo.

The most common occurrence we run into is with school mascot logos. People want to print things with their school's logo. Typically when you explain to them that they need permission from the university, it's the last you hear from them.