Several week ago we received notice from a lawyer informing us that a CoboCards user had posted a photo of German sociologist Niklas Luhmann in violation of copyright law.

The lawyer asked for a fine of 500 Euro (about $628 USD) within two weeks.

It turned out that the photo was copyrighted. As a software provider we cannot be held legally responsible for such cases and probably would have referred the lawyer to the user. However, we didn’t do so for two reasons:

1. We didn’t want the user to have to face this issue alone.
2. In our terms of use we promised not to reveal our customers’ email addresses to third parties.

We consulted our lawyers and with their help resolved the issue. The user unpublished the flashcard set, and after five weeks of bargaining we managed to decrease the penalty to 140 Euro (about $175 USD).

Our user was relieved:
“…First of all I want to thank you for your support… I wish you could see how happy I am right now.”

Of course, we can’t always invest our time and resources to solve our users’ legal difficulties, but rest assured the privacy of your email address will be protected from third parties. We just kindly ask that you don’t use copyrighted materials without permission while publishing flashcards in the Pool. If you have any doubts about the copyright of photos or other materials then leave them out of your postings.