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Author Topic: Extortion Letter From LCS/500px  (Read 7004 times)

fredvig

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Extortion Letter From LCS/500px
« on: October 22, 2015, 07:04:10 PM »
My wife received a "Final Notice Prior To Escalation" today, regarding one piece of stock art she used in a website that is no longer active (we took it down way before we got a letter). The art was part of Go Daddy's web builder program, so I'm not even sure she should be liable (if anyone is).
Here's the link to their "case"
https://settle.lcs.global/473490868169
They are asking for $480.

As you can see, she used just a portion of the artwork and, as I said, the jpeg was provided as part of a web builder package. Has anyone had any luck bringing GoDaddy in on this and letting them deal with it?

I'm assuming this is just a fishing expedition, and they hoping we are going to be scared into coughing up the money.

Should we just ignore this?  I would appreciate some direction.

Thanks,
 


luanne415

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Re: Extortion Letter From LCS/500px
« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2015, 07:39:08 PM »
Personally I would ignore it. Just filing a complaint in a California court alone is around $600. Based on that info alone, this is just a scare tactic. They are just bullies. That's my opinion however. I wrote a post about it a few months back to share my experience.

http://mini-moe.blogspot.com/2015/08/internet-trolls-why-getty-images-will-die-a-natural-death-online.html

stinger

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Re: Extortion Letter From LCS/500px
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2015, 09:38:12 PM »
I agree with luanne415.  They are not likely to file.  But you will have to deal with the aggravation for 3 years from their first discovery.

My advice - read as much of this forum as you can absorb.  It will give you more options you may not have considered. But more importantly, it will give you peace of mind in whatever decision you ultimately make.

My advice part ll - don't give in to their scam by paying them.

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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Re: Extortion Letter From LCS/500px
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2015, 11:00:12 AM »
I use 500px.com, the images there are uploaded by users and as far as I know the copyright and copyright enforcement would be the responsibility of the uploading user. Now they may have changed somewhat and could possibilty offer users the ability to allow 500px to handle this, alot has changed there since I first became a user, and I haven't posted any images there in a long time...
Most questions have already been addressed in the forums, get yourself educated before making decisions.

Any advice is strictly that, and anything I may state is based on my opinions, and observations.
Robert Krausankas

I have a few friends around here..

watchout

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Re: Extortion Letter From LCS/500px
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2015, 11:52:07 PM »
I received a letter from LCS for 500px that matches exactly those from Getty - right down to the logo and Seattle address.  It appears that although 500px was intended to be a competitor to Getty, they have quite recently hired a former COO and SVP to "help grow its licencing business".  At the very least, they have hired Getty LCS to bring in their "award winning" trolling strategy.  In my case, they appear to be trying to claim ownership of (and collect payment for) an image that is almost certainly not their property.  I will read some more of the forum posts before adding a thread regarding this, but I'm hoping I might find some others who have encountered something similar.......

4theoffice

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Re: Extortion Letter From LCS/500px
« Reply #5 on: January 09, 2016, 12:31:09 PM »
I too recently (DEC-15) received a letter from LCS about an image. Here's the funny thing, the artist has donated her entire collection to U.S. Library of Congress and has removed all Copyright Restrictions. Here is the quote from the Library of Congress about her work, "XXXXXX, a distinguished and richly-published American photographer, has donated her work to the Library of Congress since 1992. Her generosity in dedicating the rights to the American people for copyright free access also makes this Archive a very special visual resource." Second Quote, Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. Third Quote about the collection, "Publication and other forms of distribution: Ms. XXXXXXX has stipulated that her photographs are in the public domain. Last quote about her work, "XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX photographs are in the public domain. I've totally ignored them because of what I know about the images. It would appear they are trying to trick you into believing they own the rights, any thoughts?

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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Re: Extortion Letter From LCS/500px
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2016, 12:44:42 PM »
My thought is you should contact the photographer ( since you didn't name her for some reason) and urge her to file a lawsuit against LCS, since they appear to be illegally profiting from her works, which reside in the public domain...

I would respond to LCS informing them you will be invoicing them every time they try to harass you going forward.
Most questions have already been addressed in the forums, get yourself educated before making decisions.

Any advice is strictly that, and anything I may state is based on my opinions, and observations.
Robert Krausankas

I have a few friends around here..

4theoffice

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Re: Extortion Letter From LCS/500px
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2016, 12:54:56 PM »
Robert, Thanks for the response. I would be glad to name her and list the links to the collection if that will help the forum combat these crooks. I thought I would keep the artist out of it, would you like to see them?

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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Re: Extortion Letter From LCS/500px
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2016, 01:54:11 PM »
no need I know who it is..
Most questions have already been addressed in the forums, get yourself educated before making decisions.

Any advice is strictly that, and anything I may state is based on my opinions, and observations.
Robert Krausankas

I have a few friends around here..

 

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