Saturday, February 15, 2014

What Every Mortgage Lender Should Know about Copyright Infringement?

If you are a mortgage lender, you probably have generated many pieces of advertising for the loan products offered by your company.  Before releasing those ads, you probably spent countless hours on the content, aesthetics, and compliance aspects of the ads.  Everything seemed perfect.  

But, in many cases, your ads probably contain some kind of picture, graphic, or image.  Where did that picture or image come from?  Did you have permission from its owner to use it for commercial purpose?  If not, you may have infringed someone's copyright in and to that picture.  

Mortgage lenders of all sizes are subject to strict federal and state regulations with respect to advertising mortgage loan products.  On the federal side, lenders must comply with the MAP Act, Regulation N, the Truth in Lending Act, Regulation Z, the Fair Credit Report Act, and Regulation V.  At the same time, each state has its own mortgage advertising rules.  Given the severe consequences of a violation of the numerous federal and state rules, and in light of the CFPB's particularized attention on false and misleading mortgage advertising, mortgage lenders tend to spend much time and resources on advertising compliance.
         
The following may generally describe how a lender finalizes a piece of mortgage loan-related adverting.  First, a loan officer or production manager comes up with the desired texts for the ad; second, the compliance officer scrutinizes over the texts for federal and state compliance issues; third, someone with some computer skills "googles" for a visually appealing image and inserts it onto the texts; and finally, the ad gets distributed electronically or in print to the target audience.  Unfortunately, some lenders often neglect another important aspect of their advertising materials - copyright.

Copyright is the exclusive right of the owner of a copyrighted materials (music, literary work, pictures, among others) to produce, distribute, perform, or otherwise use such materials.  Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, objects, or things; rather, it protects the original or creative expression of the underlying ideas, concepts, objects, or things.  Unlike for patents, the "original" or "creative" threshold required for copyright is low.  This renders most photographs, paintings, images, drawings, and musical notes copyrightable under federal law in the United States.  

Copyright infringement occurs when someone reproduces, displays, performs, or otherwise uses a copyrighted work during the copyright protection period without the permission, authorization, or license of or from the owner.  Unless you display or re-distribute a copyrighted work under some kind of fair use exception, i.e., commentary, criticism, parody, news reporting, or scholarly research, your unauthorized use of a protected work for commercial purposes is likely to constitute copyright infringement, which may be extensive civil damages.

Having reviewed copyright and the infringement thereof, let's think about how a mortgage lender can avoid committing, unwittingly, copyright infringement in making ads.

First, if you need a picture or image to make your ad "pop", conduct some internet searches to get the right look or "feel" for a picture.  But, don't just copy and paste a picture you find out there.  In most case, if not all, the picture you find and like on the internet is copyrighted.  Once you know the right look, you may want to use your own picture with a similar look.  If you don't have it, ask other employees in your company.  If they have a picture you like, obtain permission to use it.

Second,  if you or no one you know has a picture to your liking for a particular ad, think about creating one on your own.  Does your company have an artsy employee who can draw, make, or photograph?  Ask around and you may be surprised.

Third, if none of the above two options works for you and you really would like to use a photo you find on the internet, you may have to find its owner and ask for permission to use.  It may, however, be difficult to find the owner of a picture or image.  If you found the image via a google search, you may first use some technical means to identify the owner.  When that fails, you may want to go to flickr or similar websites to search for particular photos from the registered members of those websites.  It should be fairly easy to get in touch with the owner of one of the photos/images you like on those websites.  Contact the owner for permission to use.      

Fourth, when all of the above fails, you can always commission a graphic artist (a talented kid, an art teacher, etc.) to produce a custom-made image for you.  This may cost a small amount of money, but you know for sure that the image belongs to you because the artist created it for you under the "work for hire" doctrine.  You can re-use it as many times as you would like, without worrying about receiving a cease and desist letter from someone.         

5 comments:

  1. EDWARD JONES FINANCE IS THE BEST PLACE TO GET A LOAN {Jonesloanfinance@yahoo.com},
    God bless you sir, I will not stop telling the world about your kindness in my life, I am a single mum with kids to look after. My name is Emily Thomas and I am from Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, FL . A couple of weeks ago My friend visited me and along our discussion she told me about EDWARD JONES FINANCE, that they can help me out of my financial situation, I never believed cause I have spend so much money on different loan lenders who did nothing other than running away with my money. I have been in a financial mess for the pass 7 months now, She advised I give it a try so I mailed him and explain all about my financial situation to him, he therefore took me through the loan process and gave me a loan of $390,000.00 at a very low interest rate of 2% and today I am a proud business owner and can now take good care of my kids, If you must contact any firm to get any amount of loan you need with a low interest rate of 2% and better repayment schedule, please contact EDWARD JONES FINANCE email:- {Jonesloanfinance@yahoo.com} OR Text +1(307) 217-5388

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thinking of exploring something new? Want to go somewhere for vacation? But money has become a fact and holding you back? Then you should try super-fast and quick cash loans online from lenders. You might get the money on the next day, without any kinds of hassle and physical participation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I want to share a testimony on how Le_Meridian funding service helped me with loan of 2,000,000.00 USD to finance my marijuana farm project , I'm very grateful and i promised to share this legit funding company to anyone looking for way to expand his or her business project.the company is UK/USA funding company. Anyone seeking for finance support should contact them on lfdsloans@outlook.com Or lfdsloans@lemeridianfds.com Mr Benjamin is also on whatsapp 1-989-394-3740 to make things easy for any applicant. 

    ReplyDelete
  4. Apply for a loan with NOVA GLOBAL FINANCE at 3% interest Rate

    Whether you want to give your lifestyle a boost or you have an unexpected expense to deal with, a Loan from NOVA GLOBAL FINANCE is the cost-effective way of making it happen.

    Nova Global Finances are flexible: you can borrow from one thousand (1,000) to 20 million euro and with a suitable repayment period range from 1 years to 30 years. We offer a comprehensive range of personal loans, business loans, home loans and debt consolidation loans that can be adapted to suit your changing needs and circumstances at 3% interest rate.

    What you get:
     Immediate access to your funds after approval 
     Competitive interest rates
     Flexible repayment terms
     The ability to pay off your loan faster (extra payments reduce the capital amount of the loan)
     Easy approval if you require additional funds
     You can apply for a loan at your own convenient place and time

    How to apply:
    Applying for a loan is quick and easy! Businesses or Individuals interested in applying for a loan with Nova Global Finances and requires more  information on HOW TO APPLY, should SEND AN EMAIL to (novaglobalfinances@gmail.com) OR contact Camilla Karlsen on whatsApp: +31642117819 for more information and oral briefings. T&C’s Apply.

    Camilla Karlsen
    Senior Loan Manager

    ReplyDelete
  5. TESTIMONY ON HOW I GOT MY LOAN FROM A FINANCE COMPANY LAST WEEK Email for immediate response: drbenjaminfinance@gmail.com

    {Dr.Benjamin Scarlet Owen} can also help you with a legit loan offer. He Has also helped some other colleagues of mine. If you need a genuine loan without cost/stress he his the right loan lender to wipe away your financial problems and crisis today. BENJAMIN LOAN FINANCE holds all of the information about how to obtain money quickly and painlessly via WhatsApp +19292227023 Email drbenjaminfinance@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete