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Copytrack extortion letter

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svsanchez:
Hello, I found this forum after I received an email from a German firm called Copytrack demanding the payment of more than 1,800 euros due to the usage of 6 images that were given to us by a travel agent for a small article on our site. The email is written in Spanish (our site is in the Spanish language and the primary public are central american visitors, although the site is hosted in the USA).

I have tried to contact the travel agent asking for the original copies but unfortunatelly I still haven't heard back from her.

My first impression was that this was a scam but I decided to research. Unfortunately Copytrack seems to be rather new so I couldn't find much info and instead I found this superb site, but there doesn't seem to be any info from Copytrack yet.

Meanwhile I have removed the 6 images that they say are theirs, and haven't contacted them.

Has anybody heard of Copytrack? Can they really sue when they are based in Germany, my site is hosted in the USA, and my company is in Central America?

stinger:
I'm not a lawyer, but I think the costs of filing suit in the U.S. and trying to collect from someone in Central America would certainly discourage them from suing.  What do others here think?

I would expect that having removed the images, they will go away.

Matthew Chan:
I would be interested in seeing this Copytrack demand letter. Feel free to email to matt30060 / gmail.

If someone is willing to spend the money and have the determination, almost anything is possible. But the way you explained the situation, a plaintiff (perhaps German or somewhere else, you didn't say) would have to hire a Central American lawyer to file a copyright infringement lawsuit against your company. It doesn't really matter who hosts it.  The theory is the copyright owner (Photographer or image agency) would have to spend the money to sue the infringing party, not the host.

Copytrack would not be the plaintiff but they might help provide referral or resources to the copyright owner. They are similar to other copyright collections firms. They are in it for their 30%-50% commission. See the following link.

https://www.copytrack.com/prices/

Somehow, I just don't see a lawsuit happening here based on the information you have published. Copytrack publishes their process but I am skeptical as to how frequently they will actually file a lawsuit.

https://www.copytrack.com/our-process/



--- Quote from: svsanchez on July 27, 2017, 05:28:01 AM ---Has anybody heard of Copytrack? Can they really sue when they are based in Germany, my site is hosted in the USA, and my company is in Central America?

--- End quote ---

svsanchez:
Wow, what a nice forum with helpful people. Thank you Stinger and Matthew for your replies. I will send you the letter to the email you provided. It's in Spanish, do you need it translated? I'm surprised there wasn't anyone in this huge forum who received letters from Copytrack. I did find a French and a Spanish forum with some people asking about them from late 2016 to-date.

svsanchez:
Hello again Mr. Chan, I just sent you the email I received (in Spanish) with the translation to English. I also signed up to the ELI Phone Support Call  :)

Hop to hear from you soon and also from others who have received this type of letters from Copytrack.

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