No Liability for Self-Publishing Platforms over Author's Use of Unauthorized Cover Photo - National Law Review

Only 5 Days Until Christmas

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to the National Law Review site. With a little digging around our adventuresome kitty boy found a post about self-publishing platforms liability with reference to indie author legal issues.

According to the post by Jeffery D. Neuburger, the Sixth Circuit court recently ruled in an appeal that self-publishing platforms (Amazon KDP, Smashwords, and Nook) are not responsible for the actions of indie authors who use the platforms to upload and distribute their material. The original case concerned an indie author who used a photograph without permission for the cover of his erotic ebook. The self-publishing platforms where the author uploaded the ebooks and used for distribution had claims filed against them by the owner of the photograph. The self-publishing platforms include in their sites' terms of service statements that the authors are representing that the material and cover they are publishing are their own work and they own all rights. There links to supporting information in the case included in the post.

Panzer says, "Umm ... This little kitty wants to know where the author found the photograph to steal it."

Note: This is a long-medium post. Bring half a thermos of tea and two muffins for today's reading selection. If you also plan to follow the links, bring a full thermos of tea and five muffins.

To read the post tootle over to self-publishing platforms