QUESTION
What would someone need to prove copyright infringement on digital files?
Asked on Jun 19th, 2014 on General Practice - Nebraska
More details to this question:
I worked for a photographer and wanted to show my family the photos she had taken so I put them into Dropbox with a note that they may not be used just viewed and that it wasn't a copyright release. I sent the preview to 4 members of my family so that they could view the photos, JUST VIEW THEM! And that's all they did. When they were finished I deleted them out of Dropbox. My employer found out and now wants to sue me for over $10K ($125 per file), she claims there were 80 files, however, I only put 30 in there for preview. The only proof she could possibly have would be a screen shot of the Dropbox screen which would most likely only show 6 to 9 files at most. Does she have enough to actually sue me?
1 ANSWER
Your employer has sufficient evidence of what you did, because of course you would not commit perjury by lying about it under oath when testifying in court or at deposition, or when answering a complaint. However, what you did, while it may have violated your employment agreement, and may get you fired, is probably not copyright infringement. Showing samples of your employer's work to your family, for a limited time, with no intent to profit or money changing hands, and no copying of the material, would probably be considered "fair use."
Answered on Jun 20th, 2014 at 1:38 PM