A Florida court found no copyright infringement when a competitor website used an Internet “spider’’ software program to extract and copy information from a competitor’s website. The court determined that the extraction of what were deemed facts and their copying constituted fair use. Both websites allowed brokers to post listings of boats available for sale including pictures and descriptions. The Court determined that the individual brokers and not the website owner owned the copyrights in the pictures and descriptions posted on the website. The Court also rejected Plaintiff’s claims that the compilation of listings, the headings used on the website, or the “look and feel’’ of the website were infringed by Defendant. Nautical Solutions Marketing Inc. v. Boats.com 2004 WL 73121 (M.D.FLA. April 1, 2004).
This and the following posts have been copied or adopted from A Legal Guide To The INTERNET – Sixth Edition, published through a collaborative effort by the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development and Merchant & Gould.