That said, the top brass at the agency/Netflix/etc should be ensuring processes are in place to require obtaining/verifying licences for the images used.
If some idiot designer grabs images from Google Image Search, and fails to inform anyone, it's still management's fault for not verifying those things.
Accidental copyright violation is a liability in almost any online business.
It's not okay, but it's also not a HUGE crime. This is a civil matter, worst case it'll cost some money as they buy a license after the fact... or pay settlement in court.
It's perfectly reasonable to NOT stifle your organization with cumbersome processes to verify licenses.. Because these things rarely happens, and when they do are often worked out at low cost.
The DMCA says to stop infringement upon notification. It doesn't specify unlimited penalties for accidental infringement. If so YouTube and most of the internet would die at the hands of greedy copyright holders.
In most of these types of jobs you directly bill the client for licence acquisition for the type of usage (after the client approves the artwork/design).
Forget to do that and now you need to pay out for acquiring the licence afterwards - and you'd better hope there was nobody identifiable in it because getting a modelling release afterwards can be even more expensive (after all, both the photographer and the model know they have you over a barrel).
Also don't bother billing the client afterwards, after that kind of screw up you'll be on eggshells with the client. Do it twice and you definitely won't have a client to worry about.
If implementing a lightweight process to vet designs would cost less than the cost of settlements/judgments, then it would make sense to implement some process. Companies that want to stay in business have to put on their Grownup pants and get serious about risk mitigation.
Yep, junior designer isn’t really that much at fault. Senior
Manager who owns the process
Should really know better. That’s why they pay them the big bucks.
Don't mean to come across as nit-picky, here. I work for a media company (not Netflix):
Just to keep things going straight — that's usually an art director's role on such a project. Senior management likely wants nothing to do with tasks like ensuring copyrights and IP issues are paid out. The art directors are usually the ones who know better. Senior-level managers may know, but they may also pay other people to know better.
Junior designer isn't at fault, and shouldn't know that you can't just lift random photos off the internet for commercial use? Please. Of course their boss is at fault too, but the person who actually did Bad Thing is - at a minimum - 50.1% responsible.
That said, the top brass at the agency/Netflix/etc should be ensuring processes are in place to require obtaining/verifying licences for the images used.
If some idiot designer grabs images from Google Image Search, and fails to inform anyone, it's still management's fault for not verifying those things.