We just had this happen to us, so I thought it might make a good post. Since it's more a legal issue than a website issue, I thought I'd mention it here.
We have several websites and blogs for our companies. Obviously we have disclaimers on all of them which say that all content, pictures, videos, etc. are the property of our companies and may not be used without our express permission.
Last week a company that works with a manufacturer with whom we also work, decided they wanted some product pictures that were on one of our sites, and proceeded to download the pictures without asking us. In fact, I never would have known it had been done, except for the fact that I happened to contact the person who had done it, and she told me as an afterthought.
Naturally I was livid. The pictures were our content and represented several days of work. We contacted the other company and were told they would not use the pictures, but I'm still wondering what we would have done if they had used them.
My question to all of you is this: Would you prosecute if someone was taking content from your site and using it for their own? Also, do you have a disclaimer on your site stating the site contents are copyrighted? Do you think most people know what the laws are in these situations?
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