Copyright infringement notice

[wheel man]

File names can be changed.

The problem you have is using an image without permission. The leasing company had permission, you didn’t.

How much money are they demanding from you in compensation?

£1,475.00

 

[fisicx]

That’s not as much as some claims. You might be able to negotiate this down a bit.

 

[prophet01]

...ask them for a breakdown of the sum they are requesting and proof that they suffered a loss due to your infringement....

@wheel man
Make them do some work.
Simply ask them for a breakdown demonstrating how they arrived at this figure.
I'd make no admission of wrongdoing.

 

[fisicx]

And ask for proof they are the copyright holders.

 

[Nathanto]

£1,475.00

Ouch! Have you found the image on the izmostock website, added it to cart and gone through the options to get a price based on how long (e.g. 1, 2 or more years) you were using the image without permission?

That might give you a start on what would be a reasonable price to pay...

 

[fisicx]

There is no cart. They just say to get in contact to obtain permission.

 

[Nathanto]

There is no cart. They just say to get in contact to obtain permission.

I thought the same at first as they don't make it obvious or easy to buy a licence, some might think that's deliberate so they can charge outrageous fees for unlicensed usage...

https://archive.izmostock.com/archive

Using the above link gives you a gallery, click on a vehicle and then click on an image and finally "Add to Cart" appears.

 

[fisicx]

Checking the price for a single image to display on a website for marketing and £1475 doesn't seem unreasonable. It all depends on how long the images was being used.

 

[wheel man]

Ouch! Have you found the image on the izmostock website, added it to cart and gone through the options to get a price based on how long (e.g. 1, 2 or more years) you were using the image without permission?

That might give you a start on what would be a reasonable price to pay...

I think it was $800 for 12 months license. The image was only on our website for a couple of months.

 

[DontAsk]

If you want to continue corresponding, ask them for a breakdown of the sum they are requesting and proof that they suffered a loss due to your infringement. Point out that you gained no benefit in the time the image was up.

I would still push back on this, as above.

 

[fisicx]

I think it was $800 for 12 months license. The image was only on our website for a couple of months.

The prices you see are in their archive site. The live site doesn’t have prices.

I did an enquiry about getting a photoshoot and costs starts at £5000. This is not a low cost company.

Ask them for a breakdown as already suggested.

 

[wheel man]

Thank you to everyone who has helped me with this issue. I'm pleased to say it is now over after several emails back-and-forth.

The company concerned answered every email I sent and provided documentary proof of everything they were claiming, so I decided to pay. It was a genuine error on my side, so there's a lesson to be learned. At the end of the day, I did not want something to jeopardise my business. I've worked too hard over the years for something like this to cost it big time.

Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time in trouble to comment and advise. It's very much appreciated.

 

[carsnow]

A bit of

Thank you to everyone who has helped me with this issue. I'm pleased to say it is now over after several emails back-and-forth.

The company concerned answered every email I sent and provided documentary proof of everything they were claiming, so I decided to pay. It was a genuine error on my side, so there's a lesson to be learned. At the end of the day, I did not want something to jeopardise my business. I've worked too hard over the years for something like this to cost it big time.

Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time in trouble to comment and advise. It's very much appreciated.

A bit of a thread resurrection here but we've just found ourselves in a similar boat with the same company, but for nearly 80 images and they want over 100K, a bit more than the turnover in our previous year and much more than all the money, assets and stock that are in the company.

Again we had used them for category images, simply images to illustrate a particular year of vehicle and were not on any pages where anything could be purchased. We had sourced them at the time thinking that they were under creative commons and tried to do due diligence through google reverse image searches to try and find an original source but at the time were unable to find any other copyright holder. Until today we hadn't heard of this company but from seeing their website we now don't doubt that they are the copyright holder and have removed any of these images that remained on the site within a 6 hours of receiving the letter.

Annoyingly the letter is dated the 1st Dec but only arrived today (the 8th) and gives 14 days to respond from the date of the letter, which clearly doesn't give much time. They have also emailed the letter today - so were obviously checking the post tracking which will show it arrived today and the emailed letter is dated the 1st too, despite being emailed on the 8th.

We obviously can't pay the full amount, even if we managed to sell all stock and company assets today, so I think the most likely outcome is to cease the Ltd company trading and liquidate the company. Other than this there is no other significant debt that can't be paid immediately from the current funds. It's not my ideal outcome as it feels like 5 years down the drain but I can't see another way around without a legal fight that would probably sink the company rather quickly anyway.

What are the ramifications of closing the company that is currently solvent but has this axe hanging over its head? What happens to unsold stock in this instance?

Obviously we will be seeking proper legal advice asap, I am simply hoping for a little better understanding of options seeing as time is somewhat of the essence so a decision will need to be made sooner rather than later.

 

[fisicx]

You could try negotiating. Explain about how you don’t have the funds. Show how you tried to find the copyright holder. The 100k they want is an opening gambit. If they play hardball they could end up with nothing.

 

[wheel man]

A bit of

A bit of a thread resurrection here but we've just found ourselves in a similar boat with the same company, but for nearly 80 images and they want over 100K, a bit more than the turnover in our previous year and much more than all the money, assets and stock that are in the company.

Again we had used them for category images, simply images to illustrate a particular year of vehicle and were not on any pages where anything could be purchased. We had sourced them at the time thinking that they were under creative commons and tried to do due diligence through google reverse image searches to try and find an original source but at the time were unable to find any other copyright holder. Until today we hadn't heard of this company but from seeing their website we now don't doubt that they are the copyright holder and have removed any of these images that remained on the site within a 6 hours of receiving the letter.

Annoyingly the letter is dated the 1st Dec but only arrived today (the 8th) and gives 14 days to respond from the date of the letter, which clearly doesn't give much time. They have also emailed the letter today - so were obviously checking the post tracking which will show it arrived today and the emailed letter is dated the 1st too, despite being emailed on the 8th.

We obviously can't pay the full amount, even if we managed to sell all stock and company assets today, so I think the most likely outcome is to cease the Ltd company trading and liquidate the company. Other than this there is no other significant debt that can't be paid immediately from the current funds. It's not my ideal outcome as it feels like 5 years down the drain but I can't see another way around without a legal fight that would probably sink the company rather quickly anyway.

What are the ramifications of closing the company that is currently solvent but has this axe hanging over its head? What happens to unsold stock in this instance?

Obviously we will be seeking proper legal advice asap, I am simply hoping for a little better understanding of options seeing as time is somewhat of the essence so a decision will need to be made sooner rather than later.

I feel your pain. Perhaps contact them and see if you can come to some kind of agreement.

I certainly wouldn't liquidate the company straight away - not after so much hard work.. Try to negotiate with them.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I feel your pain. Perhaps contact them and see if you can come to some kind of agreement.

I certainly wouldn't liquidate the company straight away - not after so much hard work.. Try to negotiate with them.

80 images is a hell of a lot so cannot blame them for wanting a payment

My first thought is to ask them for proof they actually own the copywrite for each photo

Then is a must to try and negotiate with them, your reasons why you used them is totally irrelevant but showing them a copy of last years accounts and stating its beyond your ability to pay you maybe able to bring the action cost down a large amount, but don't mention you consider closing down the company

From what i understand many scams are carried out like this, so absolute proof they own the copywrite is essential
I am not a lawyer just my thoughts

 

[paulears]

Image usage and recovery is a major income stream got Getty Images and others - because in most countries there is a simple collection system and intellectual property legal system. If you use something you do not own, and do not have a licence for - what can you argue? You did it, so you just need to mitigate. It's cheap and easy for anyone to file a claim online, and Getty in particular are expert. Virtually everything downloaded from the internet is not copyright free. Most searches for copyright right free music or images take you to sites that charge you to use the image and give you a licence. Once the deed is done, and you do something with the images, the court will side with the owner - after all, they own something, and you used it without permission. Even on a cancer website that is non-profit making, and very good cause, the rights were set aside. 80 images is wholesale use.
I'm not legally trained, but as copyright is a tort - the claim is, I think, able to be pointed at the individual - so if you close the company, they could come after the individual who did it? I think that is called direct infringement, or something like that? Rights are extremely difficult to stay on the right side of.

 

[Gecko001]

Google images have been around for years now, making it so easy for copyright holders of images to find out who is using their images., that it is little wonder that photo stock companies make quite a bit of money out of enforcing their copyright rights. As @paulears says, most of the "free" images on the internet are copyright and not royalty-free. Always read the small print of photo stock sites which seem to be royalty-free. Often they are only royalty-free for a very narrow set of circumstances.

With regard to music, even posting a youtube video taken in say a public space with music playing in the background could be challenged by the copyright owner of the music.

 

[Bluffmaster]

I am in the same situation. I need a good lawyer any help would be appreciated.

 

[paulears]

Music rights I'm rather comfy with - as I'm a beneficiary of royalties, but even that is a real pain when MY music, which I wrote, arranged, performed and recorded is copyright claimed by a 3rd party. It's an automated search and firms slap in claims and you have to fight every one. With images, they're so 'everywhere' - it's so difficult to do it properly - because provenance is distorted or disguised by tools on everyone's phone - so somebody puts a video they found on facebook, somebody downloads the image, crops it and removes the creases, somebody then sees that and puts it on their page and eventually it pops up on a wix web site - and some poor fool gets crucified.

 

[TCH]

My first thought is to ask them for proof they actually own the copywrite for each photo

good point

how do you prove that you are the originator of an image, and not a copycat

 

[fisicx]

how do you prove that you are the originator of an image, and not a copycat

By showing you have the original on your camera, phone etc. For paintings you will have the original. Digital artwork will be on your computer or in some online archive. Music, books and other creative media are all easy to verify.

 

[Bluffmaster]

good point

how do you prove that you are the originator of an image, and not a copycat

He dosent own anything and even

good point

how do you prove that you are the originator of an image, and not a copycat

he dosent own or nor he is the original creator. He claims that he regestered it in 2011 but the image is existed since 1999 by another supplier. He tried to file case against another supplier and he already lost the case and now that is why he is targeting small small shop and scum them