The legal aspect of using images taken from other sites on your site

Probably, almost every site owner is faced with the fact that sometimes you need to upload any content to your site. And without hesitation, he goes to the nearest search engine to find the necessary materials, be it kittens or cherished gearbox drawings. Of course, the site owner vaguely suspects that this is not very correct on his part, therefore, to soothe the soul, he does not upload pictures to his hosting service, but uses originals from sites where he borrowed them and took them.


And once he receives a letter with an exemplary text: “ Dear friend Dear domain owner! We sue you for illegal use of our images. Copies of the pages of the site with an illegally used image have already been certified by a natarius quiver. ”

The question is - what to do now? It seems that we are not against the removal of these materials, since they are threatening them with reprisals . And it seems they would go nafik - Internet free space, what we want and take.
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Nevertheless, such claims can be substantiated: despite the fact that the pictures are not hosted on your hosting, by showing them on your website you are actually bringing the work (in this case, images) to the public, which, according to paras. 11 clause 2 of Article 1270 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, is the use of the work. Using the work without the permission of the copyright holder, regardless of whether the relevant actions are performed in order to gain profit or without such a goal, is a violation of the exclusive right to work.

Also, notarization of the pages of the site is a valid way of fixing evidence of violation of the exclusive right to work.

With regard to liability for violation of the exclusive right to work, within the framework of civil proceedings in accordance with paragraph 3 of Art. 1252 and art. 1301 of the Civil Code, the right holder may claim compensation for damages or compensation in the amount of from ten thousand rubles to five million rubles (the final amount is set by the court) or double the value of copies of the work or twice the value of the right to use the work, based on the price under comparable circumstances, it is usually charged for the legitimate use of the work.

In addition, illegal use of works for the purpose of generating income under paragraph 1 of Article 7.12 of the Code of Administrative Offenses provides for a fine in the amount of one thousand five hundred to two thousand rubles with confiscation of counterfeit copies of works and phonograms, as well as materials and equipment used to reproduce them, and other instruments of committing an administrative offense.

Also, if the damage from the illegal use of works exceeds 100,000 rubles, the law provides for criminal liability for the illegal use of works.

Thus, it would be most appropriate to try to get in touch with the complainant and suggest that the situation be settled out of court. If this is not possible, you can, for example, post a message to the copyright holders on the site itself with a request to contact you regarding the removal of their images.

If the claimant demands not only to delete the photos, but also to pay compensation, it is worth checking the person’s credentials and making sure that his claims are valid.

Well and in the dry residue - in order to avoid such a situation, you should either enter into a written licensing agreement with the copyright holders of the works, or use photographs that are expressly marked by the copyright holder as freely distributed.