Sports club website hacked with a picture - infringement claimed by rights organisation
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 10:09 am
We are a club of ~100 friends and ex-work colleagues who share a sporting interest and we maintained a small website giving basic details of the club for anyone who might like to join. Our sports activities are operated through a completely separate white-labelled sports club app which is provided by a commercial organisation.
Our public website got hacked and the hackers posted a page which looked something like a business news page. We then received a copyright infringement claim for ~£300 from a picture rights organisation because the hacked page included a photograph from a news agency.
£300 is a material slice of our annual club expenditure of ~£15,000 so we would prefer not to have to pay it. We have turned off the public website for the time being.
We would be very grateful for advice on: are we truly liable for this illegal act done by a hacker without our knowledge or consent? how should we deal with the picture rights organisation and/or the news agency?
Our public website got hacked and the hackers posted a page which looked something like a business news page. We then received a copyright infringement claim for ~£300 from a picture rights organisation because the hacked page included a photograph from a news agency.
£300 is a material slice of our annual club expenditure of ~£15,000 so we would prefer not to have to pay it. We have turned off the public website for the time being.
We would be very grateful for advice on: are we truly liable for this illegal act done by a hacker without our knowledge or consent? how should we deal with the picture rights organisation and/or the news agency?