Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Re: Copyright Liability with Domain Registration for Someone Else

The one thing you didn't mention that might be helpful is the nature of the "affiliation" between your customer and the complaining party.

I would recommend against making any payment to settle at this time. The chances of your being sued are relatively small, but not zero. If you are sued, the complaining party will have to prove damage, which they probably can't. Then, even if they can, you can expect the real culprit can be taxed for most or all of the damages by your filing a counter-complaint.

Re: Copyright Liability with Domain Registration for Someone Else

It is never advisable to register domain names using your contact information for someone else. Not only can that result in situations of mistaken identity such as what happened here, but your customers may loose valuable rights when defending themselves against a domain name dispute.

You have taken all of the right steps to prevent further display of the copyrighted materials and notified the copyright owner and website owner of the dispute and the actual parties involved. ISPs are generally not liable for direct or contributory infringement of copyrighted materials on websites as courts recognize that they have no control over the websites and no duty to police the content. The question in your case may turn on some of the facts that you mentioned i.e. the customer had sole FTP access to the website. It is likely that you are not liable in this case, but such determinations are really factually based. If, after everything you have done, VMC still comes after you for damages, then you should review all of your facts with a copyright attorney.

Best Regards,

Re: Copyright Liability with Domain Registration for Someone Else

It's a little difficult to give you a definitive answer without more facts, but I'm a little surprised that they are asking for money along with the cease and desist letter.

The nature of the copyrighted materials might be helpful to know.

Based on what you've provided you should be ok unless they have a reason to believe that you knew or should have known about the copyrighted nature of the site on your service. . .

Contracts detailing your relationship with your clients will help in determining the scope of your potential liability as well. . .

Good luck. . .