Copyrights when selling e-services


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I run a limited company in the UK, and when I sell on-line services and digitalised goods to people around the European Union for their personal use, the place of supply is always the UK and I'm supposed to pay UK taxes. However, which country's copyright regulations apply when selling outside the UK?

I'm asking this question, since some time ago I downloaded a few pictures from a website that sells royalty-free photos, and their standard licence says that I'm allowed to have only one copy of a single photo, whereas the law of my country (Poland) says I'm allowed to have as many copies of any digitalised goods I buy as I wish. I know that nobody's going to check my computer to see whether I have one picture in one or two folders, but this is an example of a website which terms and conditions are against the law of a country where they sell their services (they have a Polish website and a Polish customer service, but the terms and conditions are in English). I believe that in this case the Polish law is above their terms and conditions, as they're a US-based company, but what if a company sells e-services within the EU (like my company does) and the country of supply is the country where the company is registered?

License UK Legal Copyright

asked Apr 17 '12 at 22:20
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Lukeshek
452 points
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1 Answer


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Depends on the point of view. :)

For the customer and his/her usage of your digital goods it's the law in the country where the customer resides that applies. So if the customer breaks his/her country laws, you may take it to court in his/her country.

Your terms (contract) must also be according to the customers country of residence laws, so applying a UK license blindly might make your contract with the customer void due to consumer rights given in law.

Note: I'm not a lawyer and the above is given to the best of my knowledge.

answered Apr 18 '12 at 03:34
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Rozon
136 points

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License UK Legal Copyright