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On the subject of taking photos from the internet and using it for your own website without a license: jury found website owner liable and awarded $150,000 statutory damages per photo infringement. That's $450,000 total.
The Ninth Circuit is kicking it back because of an erroneous instruction on "willful" infringement. Judge wrongly allowed a "should have known" standard. So, on remand, the most the statutory damages can be is $90,000, which is still a lot.
The "should have known" standard isn't good enough for willful infringement. The defendant website was only found liable for contributory copyright infringement, not direct infringement.
On these facts, a jury could have found direct infringement, and a finding of "willfulness" could have been possible.
Anyway, I think most people developing their website using unauthorized photos isn't worth a $90,000 verdict. And not everyone can afford to appeal the jury verdict, which was $450,000. #copyright
So the next time someone asks about taking photos on the internet and using them without authorization, this is what you want them to read. #copyright
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opin…
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opin…
