If a Social Media Editor Uses an Online Image Without Authorization, Is the Company Also Liable? Copyright Infringement Liability for Employee Conduct in the Course of Employment

When businesses operate official websites, fan pages, social media posts, e-commerce storefronts, EDM campaigns, or advertising placements, they often require large quantities of photographs, illustrations, videos, music, and design materials. Many copyright disputes do not arise because a business owner personally downloaded materials, but because employees, social media editors, designers, or marketing teams directly use images or videos found online while rushing to complete content, publish posts, or produce advertisements.

Businesses often ask: if the company did not instruct the employee to use an image without authorization and did not know that the material used by the employee was unlicensed, could it still be held liable?

Case Background: A Social Media Editor Uses Online Photographs to Produce Company Promotional Materials

Suppose a hospitality business recently launches a "Mountain View Getaway" promotion, and the owner assigns social media marketing to an in-house social media editor. To quickly complete a fan-page post, the editor searches online for several landscape photographs, combines them with promotional copy, and uploads the post to the company fan page. The post attracts considerable attention and generates booking inquiries.

Later, the original photographer discovers that the photographs were used without consent in the commercial promotional post and asserts infringement claims against both the social media editor and the company. The company representative believes that the employee downloaded the photographs independently and that the company never instructed the employee to use unauthorized images. Can the company avoid liability by claiming that it "did not know"?

Using Online Photographs May Involve Reproduction and Public Transmission

Photographs, images, illustrations, or design works found online may generally be protected by copyright law, provided they possess originality and creativity. Downloading another person's photograph to a computer, mobile phone, or company system may involve "reproduction"; subsequently uploading the photograph to a company website, fan page, e-commerce platform, or advertising page may involve "public transmission."

Accordingly, a business cannot assume that an image is free to use merely because it can be found through an online search. Unless the material is expressly licensed for commercial use or the use qualifies as fair use under the Copyright Act, consent or a lawful license from the economic rights holder should, in principle, be obtained.

Identifying the Source Does Not Constitute Authorization

Many businesses or social media editors assume that placing "Image source: Internet" next to an image or including a link to the original website prevents copyright infringement. This is a common misconception.

Identifying the source merely indicates where the material originated; it is not equivalent to obtaining authorization from the copyright owner. Using another person's image without consent for company promotions, product pages, social media posts, or advertising placements may still constitute infringement of economic rights.

When an Employee Infringes Copyright in the Course of Performing Duties, the Company May Also Be Liable

If an employee uses unlicensed materials while conducting company business, such as posting on a company fan page, producing advertisements, designing a website banner, creating product pages, or writing marketing content, the conduct is no longer merely a matter of personal use by the employee.

Under the relevant provisions of the Copyright Act, when the representative of a juristic person, an employee, or another worker commits certain offenses specified in the Copyright Act in the course of business, the actual offender may be punished, and the juristic person or employer may also be subject to a fine. This is often described as "dual-punishment" liability and is intended to require businesses to assume duties of management, supervision, and care over employees' use of copyrighted works in the course of business.

In other words, a company cannot rely solely on "I did not know," "the employee did it independently," or "I never instructed the employee to use the image without authorization" as its only defense. If the business has not established basic materials-management systems, license-review procedures, or employee training, it may still be considered to have failed to fulfill appropriate management duties.

Outsourcing to a Marketing Agency Does Not Mean the Business Is Entirely Free from Risk

In practice, many businesses outsource social media management, advertising design, website production, or audiovisual editing. However, if the contractor uses unlicensed images, music, fonts, videos, or templates, the business may still face removal of content, claims for damages, interruption of advertising, damage to its brand image, or contractual disputes.

Accordingly, when working with external marketing agencies, designers, photographers, editors, or website development companies, businesses should clearly specify in the contract the sources of materials, scope of authorization, warranties against infringement, allocation of responsibility, and documents to be delivered. Otherwise, if an infringement dispute arises, the business may find it difficult to quickly clarify the sources of the materials and the allocation of responsibility.

Businesses Should Establish Materials-Management and Content-Review Procedures

The greater the volume of daily marketing content produced by a business, the greater the need for systematic copyright-risk management. In particular, official websites, fan pages, short-form videos, product pages, presentations, trade-show brochures, and advertising materials may all use works created by others. Without clear management procedures, infringement risks can easily accumulate without being noticed.

Businesses should establish at least basic materials-management rules, such as prohibiting the use of search-engine images without authorization, retaining purchase records for stock-image licenses, requiring proof of authorization for outsourced materials, marking the permitted scope of use in the company materials library, and verifying the sources of materials before official publication.

Recommendations for Intellectual Property Strategy

Businesses that frequently produce social media, website, advertising, presentation, or audiovisual content should incorporate copyright management into their daily operations rather than waiting to remedy issues after receiving an infringement notice.

• Establish a list of approved materials: Organize the photographs, stock images, fonts, music, videos, templates, and design materials that the company may lawfully use, and identify the scope of authorization.
• Retain authorization records: Purchase records for stock images, license agreements, photography agreements, design delivery records, music license documents, and platform licensing terms should all be properly retained.
• Avoid using materials from unidentified sources: Images found through search engines, social media screenshots, images from other parties' official websites, online marketplace photographs, news images, and materials shared by internet users should not, in principle, be used directly for commercial promotion.
• Include warranties against infringement in outsourcing agreements: When engaging a marketing agency, designer, or editor, the agreement should specify the lawful sources of materials, scope of authorization, infringement liability, and methods for resolving disputes.
• Establish a prepublication review mechanism: Before officially publishing content on an official website, fan page, advertisement, product page, or presentation, the lawful sources of images, videos, music, fonts, and copy should be confirmed.
• Conduct regular employee training: Social media editors, designers, sales personnel, marketing personnel, public relations personnel, and e-commerce personnel should understand basic copyright principles to prevent company risks caused by urgent deadlines or misunderstandings of licensing rules.

Case Conclusion

An employee's use of an unauthorized online image for company business is not necessarily solely the personal responsibility of the employee. If the conduct occurs in the course of performing company work, the actual offender may be held liable, and the company may also face liability for fines imposed on a juristic person for failing to fulfill its duties of management and care.

For businesses, the key to reducing risk is not to claim a lack of knowledge after the event, but to establish clear systems in advance for materials licensing, source records, outsourcing agreements, publication review, and employee training. Any business that routinely produces official websites, social media content, advertisements, product pages, or presentations should treat copyright materials management as a basic part of operational risk control.

Source: Taiwan Intellectual Property Office｜Can a Company Be Held Liable When an Employee Infringes the Economic Rights of Another Person in the Course of Performing Duties?
Laws & Regulations Database of the Republic of China (Taiwan)｜Copyright Act