Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Florida

I have been sent a formal document by a stock image corporation complaining that a company of mine has engaged in copyright infringement by using three small images on my company's website.

My company has been dissolved for many years now. In fact we never got off the ground and generated zero revenue. A disabled version of the website was kept up just so that we could reference the the back-end/login portion, which we used for computer programming project in college.

This stock company made these demands: #1. cease and desist displaying the images,and

#2. provide written response identifying all uses of the images.

I will comply with 1. Regarding 2, there was never was any other uses, so I will comply as well.

They also wrote that they must be compensated for the duration the images were published. This company also attached an invoice for damages of unauthorized use.

The question here is: does a defunct corporation that never generated any revenue have to pay? How should I respond to them? I have no lawyers, the front-end of the website was created by people I've long since lost contact with.


Asked on 8/28/09, 10:46 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Sarah Grosse Sarah Grosse, Esquire

I suggest that you respond to their Qs 1 and 2 as you stated, and just don't respond to the rest of the demand. You can state that the corporation owed the website, and the corp never generated any income and is now dissolved. I think that will make them go away. If not, you will need to hire an attorney to respond to any follow-up demand or threat to sue.

Read more
Answered on 8/31/09, 9:59 am
Quinn Johnson, Esq. Johnson PC, Attorneys at Law

Although, there may have been possible acts of copyright infringement committed by your defunct corporation, you may still have available defenses to those actions such that liability might be avoided.

I highly recommend that you contact an Intellectual Property Attorney to review the Cease and Desist letter and to discuss the details of an appropriate response.

THE COMMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE FOR GENERAL INFORMATIONAL USE ONLY- NOT AS LEGAL OPINION. NO ATTORNEY/CLIENT RELATIONSHIP HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED.

Read more
Answered on 9/03/09, 1:28 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Intellectual Property questions and answers in Florida