Helping out!
 

Im starting an image gallery website, and it is clear people are uploading images with watermarks. As the site is small I review all images, but do not remove images with watermarks as I generally encourage my users to watermark all of their images (so they get credit).

A watermark thus does not mean the person does not have the permission to upload the content. Contacting the authors of watermarked content that have websites have proven to be rather time consuming and fruitless (no-reply's).

My TOS specifically states that Users are responsible for their content and that content must be uploaded only if the user has permission. Legally I am protected, but ethically I would like to be more pro-active then re-active.

So what services/solutions are their for website owners like Me to be pro-active and prevent my users from copyright infringement?

i think you will still get in trouble if you do not remove content that has been stolen from another site even if your tos say that you are responsible for there own images

Im not a lawyer but from what I have been advised....

The law states that content providers are not responsible for the content their users publish as long as they are re-active to requests to remove copyright material

Its simply impossible to tell if an image is copyrighted or not unless it has a watermark, and even then copyright means that the person who owns the material has the right to copy their material as they wish. Therefor I suggest that all people post copyright information on a watermark before posting to my site.

The exception to this law is when the organization is a "Criminal Enterprise" meaning that they promote copyright infringement. Very few people have ever been prosecuted to this extent in the US, as it is common place to remove content that is requested.

We can not jump to the conclusion that all users are posting illegal content and thus prohibit the free exchange of information. Google, Youtube, Facebook, and every site on the net would shut down if it was not for these protections.

Thus it is up-to the copyright holder to notify sites that have content that infringes on their rights. Then it is up to the site owner to react appropriately by taking down the copyrighted material.

Unless you are making billions (like the MPAA), strong arming is probably not the best tactic, and even then it is becoming very difficult to do.

With that said, I personally am offering a art site that has no restrictions (outside of child porn, animal porn, etc) on what is "Art". My intention is to promote the free exchange of art by artists (and art fans) regardless of what they consider "Art" to be and let the users define "Quality".

I am asking, begging, pleading, or whatever I need to do for a reasonable solution to be pro-active (not re-active as the law requires) for copyright protection. I am asking for tools to go above and beyond what the law requires so that artists may choose how they want their material to be distributed (free or for pay). If artists want their material to be hosted privately then I want to encourage them and thus the desire of mine to be pro-active in removing the material.