Quote - XWALL site, it is mentioned (in Spanish) that there is a part of the site (Usuarios) where the users can post their personal favorite images (from other creators!!!) that they find all over the internet... and that the ownership of these images remains with their original creators. Of course, the site owners can't be held responsible for any mis-use of other people's images.

It is a -VERY COMMON- misperception that 'copyright law doesn't matter if I do it free'...

It is especially common in online forums, websites, file sharing, etc...

In almost every debate about copyright online, some yahoo comes in and claims they can copy and repost and so on because they aren't charging for it, or they are just using it for their 'personal uses' - as if posting it to the world was a personal use...

A lot of website owners fall prey to this same incorrect belief - and the presence of products like napster, utube, and so on only contribute to this belief.

But copyright of course, doesn't work that way.

If A hold copyright to X, B cannot copy it without getting permission from A. End of most of the discussion. Doesn't matter how B uses it, barring a small list of exceptions. Those exceptions mostly relate to academia and reviews. They do not cover general free distribution. But a common belief is that they do.

Further, you cannot disclaim liability for an illegal act if you are the party knowingly enabling that act. Which is the case here - as they first set up a form for people to use to break the law, suggest to them how to go about breaking the law, and then try to claim they are not responsible if people then actually go ahead and break the law. It doesn't work that way.

Spanish law, as a member of both the European Community and the EU, is not going to be that different from US law on this point - that site owner could be hauled into court by anyone of the people here who's work has been stolen.

Note also that unlike trademark, not hauling them into court won't cause you to lose your copyright.

If there is anyone who's work has been stolen who is in Europe, people with an interest might want to pool resources around that person in order to hire a local lawyer to draft up the EU version of a cease and desist letter.

Getting a notice with a law firm's name on it is often enough to scare people out of their illegal acts.

Truth has no value without backing by unfounded belief.
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