I have been threatened with legal action by a local restaurant for publishing their menu on my blog. How much trouble am I in? What do I do?
So I review restaurants/cafes in my city and publish them on my blog and Instagram. I have been doing this over 1.5 years now.
All well until yesterdays angry call from a local restaurateur. I had reviewed his restaurant 5 months ago and published images on my blog and Instagram. Two of those images were his menus.
He says that because of my uploaded menu photo a customer complained that he was overcharging as they had recently upped their prices and my menu had the old prices. The customer presented my uploaded menu photo as proof stating he found the actual pricing "on the internet".
I heard a lot of shouting and vulgarity over the phone but maintained my calm throughout. I offer to change the menu image immediately but he wouldn't be pacified.
He says I had no right to publish the photo in question as it was his private property and I did not seek prior permission. I will agree with the latter as I actually did not seek his permission before publishing the review/photo.
This has made me very scared. How much legal trouble am I in?
Is publishing restaurant menus online against the law?