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Author Topic: BWP Media/Pacific Coast News Are Attacking Film Blogs  (Read 4450 times)

KnightGambit

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BWP Media/Pacific Coast News Are Attacking Film Blogs
« on: July 11, 2017, 12:39:03 AM »
Hi, for obvious reasons you know why I am here. I received an email in June from Image Protect on behalf of BWP Media and Pacific Coast News. (Going to keep the name of my site a secret for this public forum)

We were ordered to pay the sum of $1500.00 for the use of a set photo we had posted on our website and server over a year ago in 2016. Which we had received and linked from JustJared.com. Ironically, the initial email only listed one single set photo as being under copyright even though the original article had several other photos listed.

Obvious I had a heart attack because literally days before another film blog that I'm friends with had received a physical letter for the same photos. However, in their case Image Protect had been trying to contact them for over 6 months and obviously, things escalated drastically. In my case the email was only 48 hrs old. But in both our cases our emails were in our spam folder? Nevertheless, my buddies own blog was hit with a $5000.00 settlement claim but somehow got to talk them down to a mere $250 bucks after providing paperwork that he didn't make much from his acutal day time job through tax returns and such.

Now in my cas, however, I immediately thought JustJared.com (who is known for posting set photos with their hideous watermark) was the one who was attacking use but after a bit of digging it was Pacific Coast News. Without any formal Take Down request, they jumped stright to settlement fees. So I started to read up how this has been going on for years. So I started to formualte my responce. I went through the trouble of deleteing ALL set photos from my film blog and deleting the original media files. Headache with Wordpress is in order to make your website to run faster they acutally store the images on their OWN server. (http://1.wp.com) So that was headache just trying to find how to remove them from a place I have no control over. Talking to my web host GoDaddy was a dead end because it's not stored on my server! Luckily, I finally found an email and asked Wordpress to wipe my cache and the image was finally gone from both our servers.

Now a few days passed after I had apologized and promptly removed the images and many more in under 48 hrs. I was then contacted by the rep who would be handling my case "Jenna Nessman" who claimed I needed to provied proof of my lisence or a the settlement fee needed to be paid.

My responded email was a little on the hard side as I stated that the single photo had been removed less than 48 hours on both our sever and the entire article had been removed. That we both knew that according to the "fair use" policy the image is not worth $1500.00 and that would not hold up in court. And that I don't want to be contacted again. Now whether any of that info is true or not (I talked out my ass) I have yet to receive another email since and its been about 2 weeks. 

Just a small story to see what to go from here....and see who else has been effected by these trolls.

Matthew Chan

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Re: BWP Media/Pacific Coast News Are Attacking Film Blogs
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2017, 02:42:04 PM »
Thanks for sharing your story. Keep us updated on how things go. If you have any general questions, feel free to ask.

I am familiar with JustJared.com website as I do read it from time to time. They guard their photos well through watermarks (which I can't blame them).

I also found it interesting that your friend was able to settle for $250. Kudos to him for pushing back. However, I think your friend might have been just fine without paying also. I just don't see anyone wanting to file suit against someone where they can only afford $250. But he got closure which is the upside.  It is a personal choice.

BWP has traditionally been tough because of celebrity/paparazzi photos. It requires a bit more work to fight those according to Oscar Michelen which is why he has to charge more to help defend.
I'm a non-lawyer but not legally ignorant either. Under the 1st Amendment, I have the right to post facts & opinions using rhetorical hyperbole, colloquialisms, metaphors, parody, snark, or epithets. Under Section 230 of CDA, I'm only responsible for posts I write, not what others write.

Jerry Witt (mcfilms)

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Re: BWP Media/Pacific Coast News Are Attacking Film Blogs
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2017, 04:18:09 PM »
Nevertheless, my buddies own blog was hit with a $5000.00 settlement claim but somehow got to talk them down to a mere $250 bucks after providing paperwork that he didn't make much from his acutal day time job through tax returns and such.

This tells you all anyone needs to know about image copyright trolls. Their prices are over-inflated until they determine that you are not actually able to pay these over-inflated prices. At that point these "valuable right's managed images" are magically marked down 95%.
Although I may be a super-genius, I am not a lawyer. So take my scribblings for what they are worth and get a real lawyer for real legal advice. But if you want media and design advice, please visit Motion City at http://motioncity.com.

KnightGambit

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Re: BWP Media/Pacific Coast News Are Attacking Film Blogs
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2017, 01:43:00 AM »
I'll let you know what happens. I have yet to hear back after my second email to them.....Doesn't mean I am free and clear. It sucks this kind of thing hanging over your head..

I do have a question regarding set photos/paparazzi? Aren't they the property of the movie studio not the photographer who  illegally took a photo?

DavidVGoliath

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Re: BWP Media/Pacific Coast News Are Attacking Film Blogs
« Reply #4 on: July 12, 2017, 06:59:11 AM »
I do have a question regarding set photos/paparazzi? Aren't they the property of the movie studio not the photographer who  illegally took a photo?

Nope, the creator of the image holds the copyrights. You will find that most freelance paparazzo are very tenacious when it comes to their image rights, as it costs a lot of money to operate in that field.

The sole time that questions of legality arise with paparazzo images is if either a trespass occurs in order to capture an image, or if the subject had a reasonable expectation of privacy when photographed and, even then, the copyright in the resulting images still vests with the creator.

By way of example: a photographer spots a celebrity dining inside a restaurant. The celebrity is visible through the restaurant window to anyone passing by on the street. A paparazzo uses a long lens to shoot, unseen, from inside a parked car. There's no legal breach, as the celebrity was in plain view from an area accessible to the general public.

Conversely, if the same photographer shot from within a parked car, aiming their camera through a window of a celebrities' house, then there's the possibility of a legal breach insofar that the person inside the house had a reasonable expectation of privacy, and they may be able to lodge a civil suit against the photographer.

However, even in the latter example, the images remain the property of the photographer - though they'd be very limited in their ability to do anything with them at all, since almost all potential publishers wouldn't want to run the risk of getting sued by running the images.

KnightGambit

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Re: BWP Media/Pacific Coast News Are Attacking Film Blogs
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2017, 03:02:33 PM »
Hopefully, this doesn't jinx me....But at the time of this post it's been over a month since the initial email they sent me and I have yet to hear anything after sending my strongly worded letter to them.

Matthew Chan

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Re: BWP Media/Pacific Coast News Are Attacking Film Blogs
« Reply #6 on: August 04, 2017, 02:18:20 PM »
The 3-year statute of limitations applies. Silence for one month means very little given that multiple cases are being worked at any given time. Silence for 6 months doesn't mean a case won't be revived either or has been disregarded.

Unfortunately, for most folks, it is a long wait for the 3-years. We try to provide general news and updates. Generally, speaking smaller defendants and websites are least attractive to pursue because winning a lawsuit with a noncollectable judgment is something most of these copyright collectors don't want.

Some will proudly "brag" about their prior lawsuit track record. But they don't really ever say if money was ever collected.
I'm a non-lawyer but not legally ignorant either. Under the 1st Amendment, I have the right to post facts & opinions using rhetorical hyperbole, colloquialisms, metaphors, parody, snark, or epithets. Under Section 230 of CDA, I'm only responsible for posts I write, not what others write.

 

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