Could you be sued for allowing others to access your subscription services?
Howard Lake | 6 February 2009 | Blogs
The latest edition of Pinsent Masons’ OUT-LAW News (www.out-law.com) reports that The Financial Times is suing investment group Blackstone over using one access account for many users. The FT claims Blackstone encouraged staff to avoid paying for multiple subscriptions to its services. The FT stated in court documents that it believed an account set up by a senior Blackstone employee in 2002 was used to access thousands of articles on the FT website, “far more than an individual would normally access”. The FT is claiming for copyright infringement and for offences under computer fraud and abuse laws.
“Intellectual property law expert” Kim Walker of Pinsent Masons, said that publishers could take action in the UK on a similar basis.
I guess that it might be worth checking with suppliers. If a single user subscription is taken out for a named individual, beware of allowing multiple use access.
Finbar Cullen
ResearchPlus
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.