By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — The Town of Naples was involved in a copyright violation, which was settled for much less than originally cited by the other party’s attorney.

“We had a copyright violation, unintentionally created when one of the staff used a photo from Google images, and used it on our website to promote a senior event,” according to Naples Town Manager John Hawley. “It was picked up by a law firm out of Florida. They were going to sue us for $35,000 for illegal use of the image. Our attorney and insurance carrier negotiated it down to a violation penalty of $2,500,” he said. “The insurance policy will pay all of that so that case is now closed,” he said.

On Monday, Hawley updated the Naples Board of Selectmen about the copyright violation fine. 

“Why the public is not going to be familiar with this is because it was discussed previously in executive session. But now that the settlement is done, it is public information,” he said.