Legal Question in Consumer Law in Pennsylvania

I pay monthly for online photos from an online photo agency. When I let them know that I would like to stop using their photos they informed me that I would need to remove all the photos that I used from them. They said it is "standard policy". But they never informed me of this policy before. I never signed any contract with them. I had assumed that I could use this photos indefinitely. I cannot remove these photos without doing considerable damage to my website. Moreover, there are approximately 8000 photos from this one company, so it would be extremely time consuming, to put it mildly, to remove all of them.


Asked on 10/08/11, 3:54 am

2 Answer from Attorneys
Roger Traversa Arjont Group (Law Office of Roger Traversa)

Copyright law is against you here. When you agreed to use their photos you took a limited license. Since you didn't have an agreement for long term use then your license is automatically limited to the period for which you are subscribed. You don't even get to keep using them for a limited period. When your subscription ends, so does your license. If your use doesn't end you are liable for violating copyright. The agency has the option of either proceeding in court and obtaining judgements against you, which have statutory penalties up to $150,000 per violation (per photo). And the agency can seek to have your site taken down, immediately, via the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

You don't pay your money and you take your chances.

Regards,

Roger

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Answered on 10/15/11, 6:31 pm


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