Legal Info - Serious (webdesign info etc)
 

OK, so here is a brief run down of the situation. I have a family member who I developed a website for approx. 1 year ago. Their firm paid my company to develop a website for them. I contracted another firm to do the actual graphic design and I handled the layout, putting together of the website etc.

Now, the issue is that the company I hired put a link to it in their portfolio which I dont really care about. The people I am running into an issue with is the family member (who I really dont care for) is pissed because the portfolio website is coming up with a higher google rating then their site is. They are saying we have "false" copyrights although nothing states anything about copyrighting the domain , site , name etc.

I actually still own the domain, it is in my domain, and they sent me an email that I am extremely pissed off about.

First off, I want to know what the legal copyrights are regarding web site development and works of art like websites.

I am curious about this alleged "false" copyright statement although there is nothing stated that is copyrighted. To me it seems they are pissed because if someone types in their company name an adult design company has this site in their portfolio.

Let me know, its pretty humerous, but im seeking serious legal advice to counter this email and shut this person up once and for all.

Thanks :)

Andy

redirect the site to a boobie site

so naturally you came here, the Mecca of Internet legal advice.

Actually I came here because I figured I would get some good ideas to write back in the email and to counter it to really piss them off :)

The funny thing is the domain they have on the bottom of all their pages that says "Designed by ...." links to a site for resetting adult passwords..hahaha.

Just curious more about the copyright issues regarding website design/intellectual property so I figured I would ask here :) Just another topic ... hahaha.

An adult designer is listing a mainstreamsite in his portfolio with who's permission ? Thats a big no no right there. And flying an adult design link on a mainstream site is pretty lame too. Fix it.

Sounds like this little problem would never have come up if not for that. Your family member may be acting dumb true but he has a right to as far as we are concerned. Some things you just don't mix.

What are they asking you to do? If you did not, or ,more imprtantly, your customer, did not give permission for use in a porfolio, in writing, the graphics company should take it down.

I get all of that shit in writing, but then i have several lawyers in the family, so have had this ingrained for years.

hit me up :)

You probably didn't have a contract with the designer, or this would be a moot point. You purchased the design as a work-for-hire, so it's assumed that you own the copyright to the finished design, if photographic content in the design is properly licensed for use by the site. However, if you didn't specify one way or another in a contract, the design firm is within their rights to show a representation (e.g. screenshot or other excerpt) of the design in their portfolio. The domain name or name of the site itself can't be copyrighted, though it can be trademarked, but either way the design firm would be allowed to reference the name.

Your unhappy family member should simply contact the design firm and politely ask them to remove or modify the portfolio entry in question to avoid interference with their search engine placement. However, there is no legal obligation for them to comply, hence the suggestion of politeness. It's reasonable to assume that their search engine placement for the term in question was inadvertent rather than malicious.

As for your involvement, tell your family member to go fuck him or herself. By the way I pulled this "advice" straight out of my ass...if you believe legal advice on GFY, then GFY!

First off the designer runs an adult & non-adult design firm., not to mention they paid a seperate firm (mine) to do the actual design, not the contractor. Secondly they were given permission by me, the company who contracted them to put the site in their portfolio. Secondly the design link isnt to an adult company but to a domain that now resolves to an a website that has adult links on it, no pornography is openly exposed, and the owner of the site (family member) could quite easily remove the link from their sites.

When you look at all the facts, I own the domain, they dont, the domain they are linking to on their own site links to a site that really no longer exists therefor they get a (lets call it a 404 page) that they could remove from their site.

The problem I have is with the "false" copyrights, no one claims any copyright to the information as a matter of fact even the portfolio has "Copyright theirsite.com". The fact of the matter is they are pissed because the portfolio link is coming up with a higher google PR ranking than their site.

If you had a family member like this you would want to get them back too, trust me. My concern is with them claiming "false" copyrights and the site that is being listed in the search engines is not owned by my organization or me.

this is prolly your best bet, try it out for a few days and see how it converts

hahah classic