Image copywrite problem- urgent help required

[Richard P]

Hello
Ive just had an email from a company called Visual Rights Group Ltd. They are saying ive used an unlicenced image but have not said which one it was. I got all my images from pixabay on the understanding they were free of charge. They want a payment of £500 which seems a bit excessive.
Any advice please?
Can i just call it a misunderstanding and remove the image?
Richard

 

[Shopclicks]

I don't know if your images are subject to copyright but ....

Google search 'visual rights group scam'

 

[fisicx]

Write back and ask for details of the image and proof of ownership

Pixabay says in their terms:

"If you find out – from Pixabay or somewhere else – that there is a claim relating to any Content and Pixabay might be liable, you have to stop using the Content immediately, at your own expense. This applies whether the claim is threatened, potential or actual. You also have to immediately delete or remove the Content from your premises, computer systems and storage (electronic or physical); ensure that your clients, printers or ISPs do likewise; and let Pixabay know as soon as possible by emailing..."

Which means you could well be liable for the £500. But it's more likely a scam.

 

[Richard P]

Ive just contacted them by phone and email. They have my details now. Maybe that was a mistake. They said it was half price if i paid in ****** currency. Which seems a big dodgy to me. They should have shown me the image. Im not paying them without knowing what the problem is.

 

[Richard P]

Write back and ask for details of the image and proof of ownership

Pixabay says in their terms:

"If you find out – from Pixabay or somewhere else – that there is a claim relating to any Content and Pixabay might be liable, you have to stop using the Content immediately, at your own expense. This applies whether the claim is threatened, potential or actual. You also have to immediately delete or remove the Content from your premises, computer systems and storage (electronic or physical); ensure that your clients, printers or ISPs do likewise; and let Pixabay know as soon as possible by emailing..."

Which means you could well be liable for the £500. But it's more likely a scam.

thanks for responding - Im PMed you so please ignore.

 

[fisicx]

Ive just contacted them by phone and email. They have my details now. Maybe that was a mistake. They said it was half price if i paid in ****** currency. Which seems a big dodgy to me. They should have shown me the image. Im not paying them without knowing what the problem is.

It's a scam. If it were legitimate they would be asking for ******

 

[Richard P]

If this is a legitimate, Ill have to shut my site down until I can assertain which images are legal

 

[Richard P]

Ive had a problem with getty images before. They showed me the image. Turns out a customer had posted it on a website of mine. Told them i didnt do it and they backed down.

 

[mahad]

Ive had a problem with getty images before. They showed me the image. Turns out a customer had posted it on a website of mine. Told them i didnt do it and they backed down.

Seems like he wanted to scare you or grab some quick money from you for the fact that "he chose to not bring your website down"

 

[fisicx]

If this is a legitimate, Ill have to shut my site down until I can assertain which images are legal

If they all came from pixabay or you took them yourself you don't need to do anything yet.

 

[WaveJumper]

Was this who you contacted

Received a letter? – Visual Rights Group

visualrightsgroup.com

 

[Richard P]

Was this who you contacted

Received a letter? – Visual Rights Group

visualrightsgroup.com

yes

 

[WaveJumper]

A little first floor room over an estate agents, personally wouldn't pay them anything and get them to take it up with Pixabay, anyone asking for payment in ****** has the red flags flying in my book

 

[Richard P]

A little first floor room over an estate agents, personally wouldn't pay them anything and get them to take it up with Pixabay, anyone asking for payment in ****** has the red flags flying in my book

Ive shut the site down - so they cant find an image on it to complain about, and to prevent further claims.Will wait and see what they say

 

[NickGrogan]

Ive shut the site down - so they cant find an image on it to complain about, and to prevent further claims.Will wait and see what they say

Waste of time, it will have taken them 2 seconds to copy the site before they sent the email, and its probably on archive.org anyway.

If they've got a case, hiding wont help

If they're scammers, hiding wont help

 

[Richard P]

Waste of time, it will have taken them 2 seconds to copy the site before they sent the email, and its probably on archive.org anyway.

If they've got a case, hiding wont help

If they're scammers, hiding wont help

Its not on archive.org

 

[antropy]

Ive shut the site down

Don't fall for their nonsense, they're probably a scam / troll:

Copyright troll - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Paul.

 

[Richard P]

I dont make any money from my site . Its just for me and my friends. Cant really afford £500. So if they are legit they should go after someone else. Also wonder how they found me?

 

[antropy]

I dont make any money from my site . Its just for me and my friends. Cant really afford £500. So if they are legit they should go after someone else. Also wonder how they found me?

They have an AI tool that searches the Internet for images much like PicRights.

I should make it clear that I'm not qualified to give legal or financial advice ... but I can tell you I told them I would love to see them in Court and I was ready to fight them there.

I never heard back from them sadly as it would have been fun.

Paul.

 

[mahad]

They have an AI tool that searches the Internet for images much like PicRights.

I should make it clear that I'm not qualified to give legal or financial advice ... but I can tell you I told them I would love to see them in Court and I was ready to fight them there.

I never heard back from them sadly as it would have been fun.

Paul.

I wonder what they would have done if you actually went through with the court plan. Just punks trying to get a quick scam-buck from working people

 

[antropy]

I wonder what they would have done if you actually went through with the court plan.

Well they would have had to initiate it because they were the ones accusing me of a crime.

Just punks trying to get a quick scam-buck from working people

Exactly that. Don't fall for it.

Paul.

 

[mahad]

Well they would have had to initiate it because they were the ones accusing me of a crime.

But couldn't you initiate a process where you accuse them of missinformation and ruining your image? That sounds like a easy and fun trial

 

[antropy]

But couldn't you initiate a process where you accuse them of missinformation and ruining your image? That sounds like a easy and fun trial

Sounds like a lot of time and money for no reward, but this is a laugh: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/picrights.com

Paul.

 

[tomyderigo]

Hello
Ive just had an email from a company called Visual Rights Group Ltd. They are saying ive used an unlicenced image but have not said which one it was. I got all my images from pixabay on the understanding they were free of charge. They want a payment of £500 which seems a bit excessive.
Any advice please?
Can i just call it a misunderstanding and remove the image?
Richard

Richard,

It's with 99% certainty that it'd a phishing mail. Pls do not respond!

 

[antropy]

It's with 99% certainty that it'd a phishing mail. Pls do not respond!

Well, phishing is a certain type of scam email, and this isn't that.

But it's also not worth responding to in my view.

Paul.

 

[WaveJumper]

Interesting company though, offices in four different countries, run by a Ywein Van Den Brande who's based in Belgium. Look him up on CH to see how's they are doing makes interesting reading

​

 

[BLRemovals]

If the pictures you use are from Pixabay, you can use them without having to attribute the author and no need to pay any fees. I list some images there for people to use for free.
I use pixsy.com to monitor all the copyrighted images and pictures I use in our webpage picture gallery. Unfortunately, many moving companies or man and van traders download and use my photographs on their websites without asking me or paying for a license.
But we usually send them a friendly letter asking them to take the picture down as it's illegally used. At this point, it usually works. Sometimes, the site owner is unaware that the web developer has used pictures from our gallery.

 

[fisicx]

@BLRemovals - apply a watermark before uploading. Won’t stop all of them but will reduce the volume. And make sure every image has your vehicle or a mover with your logo on their T-shirt. Free advertising of someone nicks the image.

 

[fantheflames]

Majority of those emails/messages are scams. The goal is for you to pay them and close the case. But there isn't a case to begin with! It's common to receive emails like this and even Facebook messages. Saying that, be careful when using emails from websites, as people can upload copyrighted images.