Review your website for copyright infringement

More and more Leagues are being contacted by third-party firms claiming that Leagues are violating image licenses and must pay so that they will not be sued. Fees range between $750 and $1,000 per image. 

While their practices may be “scammy,” firms like Pixsy and PicRights come to Leagues with legitimate claims about copyright infringement. They are using robots to scan League websites—including everything from web pages to uploaded pdfs and PowerPoints—for any image that is not owned by LWV or license-free, and they are assessing fees on behalf of the image owners. This is an automated activity that runs continuously on any website, no matter how small. 

This applies to images given to the League by other sources, images used strictly for educational purposes, images by which the League is not raising money—all images (photos, clip art, logos, everything) unless they are owned by the League, licensed for free use, or the League has written permission by the image owner to use their image. Unfortunately, because claims by these firms are real, Leagues must pay the licensing fees. If you are contacted by one of these companies claiming copyright infringement, refer to our recommended actions.

There are steps you can take to prevent this from happening to your League.

1. Remove from your website all newsletters, handouts, PowerPoints, or other materials older than 1 year. To be extra safe, consider removing all non-webpage materials from your website.

There are a number of issues with hosting old newsletters & other pdfs on your website.

• Hurts your search engine findability (SEO) – instead of directing to your homepage, Google and other search engines will direct people to old content that is not relevant and could drive people away from learning more about your League 
• Opens your League up to liability with content that was created by previous League members before things like copyright scanning bots existed 
• Potentially includes perspectives or language that no longer reflects the values of your League, such as DEI or political issues 
• Might contain personal contact information that members no longer want public 

2. Review all remaining webpages, newsletters, handouts, PowerPoints, or other materials and make sure each image (photo, clip art, logo, illustration, design) falls under one of these categories:

• Owned by LWVUS or your League 

  • Owned by LWVUS: from our Flickr site 

  • Owned by your League: a picture taken by one of your League members or a hired photographer; you may need consent from those who are pictured – more here [LINK] 

• You have written permission from the image owner to use it (maintain this documentation somewhere accessible); this needs to be in a pdf with a signature from the owner – an email reply saying “yeah, use our images” is not enough 

• Image is licensed for free use and you have given proper attribution (state the image owner’s name, link to the license, link to the original image); ALWAYS read licensing agreements when using images from free websites 

3. Ensure all future images put on your website or your local Leagues’ websites follow our Image Use Guidance.

If you receive a handout or PowerPoint presentation from a partner group or outside speaker, you cannot trust that all the images in their materials are safe. The safest thing to do is not to host these materials on your website. However, it is safe to link to a presentation hosted on someone else’s website. 

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We know this kind of extensive website review is the last thing anyone wants to do, but while old images remain on your website, your League is liable for these expensive fees. We encourage you to look at this website review as insurance for your League against copyright claims. Keep these same recommendations in mind for any videos your League creates as well, music copyright included.