Who Owns the Intellectual Property of Emails?

In this digital age, it’s a burning question - who owns the right of the content of an email?

First of all, we have to distinguish between owning the email (substantial right) and having an IP right (immaterial right).

This is not just legalese babble - to illustrate: a printed photo on a canvas will let the person own the canvas with image, but not the IP rights to that image.

To enjoy the benefits of copyright protection, a work needs to meet several conditions.

1. The work result from a creative activity
2. The work must be expressed in a physical form
3. The work must be original
When it comes to emails, the first and the third requirements are hard to meet. Just to illustrate, an email that states that a head of state is a #@!$%&! is hardly the fruit of creativity. Moreover, the content is quite likely not even original but harvested from social media. 

When we look at ownership, we are also in a gray area. Your email is on your computer, so you (and your heirs in case you keel over) own it. However, your rights are limited by those of third parties, namely those of the sender of the email and/or its employees (especially if it concerns a public company).

Furthermore, emails in general do not fall in the category of “confidential information”. However, depending on specific content, they could be considered to be confidential. This is normally the case for emails that contain information that could harm the company if made public.

 Last but not least: let’s discuss privacy. Does making the email public harm anyone’s privacy? If an email reveals private information, it’s an infringement. If the information is already in the public domain, not so much.

Please note that we are dealing with a grey area here. If you are a company and you are not sure, consult a lawyer. It’s worthwhile!

Disclaimer: This blog post was written for general information purposes only, and is not aimed at giving any legal advice in any way, shape or form.

©2015 Tip Top Lawyer

Be Careful Whom You Review - Amazon Is Suing Fiverr Reviewers for False Reviews

It seems like a dream come true. To promote your business or product, you turn to Fiverr et al and purchase the services of review writers to hammer out and post great endorsements for your product and/or services.

A true win-win, agreed? Not exactly, Amazon got wind of the fake reviews and took action. It is suing 1,114 people that it suspects of posting fake reviews on its website, stating: "While small in number, these reviews can significantly undermine the trust that consumers and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers place in Amazon, which in turn tarnishes Amazon’s brand."

In its lawsuit, Amazon names 1,114 defendants as “John Does” (which I assume also includes “Jane Does”). The reason for that is simple: Amazon does not know their real names, since many suppliers on Fiverr use a “username” to sell their services. It seems that there are a slew of providers on Fiverr.com who offer to write and distribute false reviews. More the pity, since my own experience with Fiverr for graphic design and video clips has been more than excellent! Amazon has also included the defendants' account pseudonyms in its law suit, just to be safe. In general, the company is seeking a judgement to uncover those real identities.

Amazon explains its legal action by stating: "Amazon is bringing this action to protect its customers from this misconduct, by stopping defendants and uprooting the ecosystem in which they participate.”

This legal action is just the latest in a slew of Amazon law suits against several websites suspected of selling fake reviews. As a lawyer and entrepreneur, I don’t blame Amazon at all. Let’s face it - Amazon has been working hard to achieve high quality of service (QoS), and individuals/companies buying rave reviews does not help (to say the least!).

Fiverr itself is not being sued and works together with Amazon to solve the problem. In the complaint, Amazon made it clear that it is not blaming Fiverr. “Although Amazon has successfully requested removal of similar listings from Fiverr in the past, the removal of individual listings does not address the root cause of the issue or serve as a sufficient deterrent to the bad actors engaged in creating and purchasing fraudulent product reviews.”

Needless to say, Fiverr is not happy as well and stated: "We have worked closely together to remove services that violate our terms of use, and respond promptly to any reports of inappropriate content. We facilitate close to a million transactions a month, across more than 100 categories of services, such as graphic design, copywriting, voiceover, multimedia editing and coding. These services are being consumed by businesses who depend on them to thrive."

To read the full court filing, follow this link Amazon Complaint

Debra De-Jong - Owner of Tip Top PR and Tip Top Lawyer