Click Official ELI Links
Get Help With Your Extortion Letter | ELI Phone Support | ELI Legal Representation Program
Show your support of the ELI website & ELI Forums through a PayPal Contribution. Thank you for supporting the ongoing fight and reporting of Extortion Settlement Demand Letters.

Author Topic: ImageProtect Extortion Letter (Jonathan Thomas)  (Read 7258 times)

Gizmo

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 1
    • View Profile
ImageProtect Extortion Letter (Jonathan Thomas)
« on: May 28, 2015, 05:56:57 AM »
Hello,

About 2 weeks I was blindsided by an email from ImageProtect demanding $1000 dollars for an image posted on my blog post from 2013.  Has anyone heard of this company and if they have ever sued anyone.

This is the letter:

Dear Sir or Madam:
This is not spam. Your website contains copyrighted content in a manner that infringes on the rights of the copyright owner. You could be liable for up to $150,000 per infringement in civil penalties.
Image xxxxxxx was discovered on your website xxxxxxxxxxxxxx and on your server at xxxxxxxxxxx

We represent the copyright owner. This notice is an offer of settlement. If you click on the link below and login to the ImageProtect automated settlement portal, for $1000.00 per infringement, you will receive a legal release from the copyright owner. Or, you may provide proof of a valid license by providing us with a Sales Order, Invoice or other Party License information, and we will release you from legal liability. Click on this link or copy and paste into your browser:
https://imageprotect.com/payment_portal/xxxxxxxxxxx

ImageProtect represents the following "copyright owner(s)" Russian Look and has been directed to pursue this claim on their behalf on the basis of a License Recovery agreement. We have provided Russian Look with a report of the infringing work which includes evidence of your infringing use, such as a screen capture of your website using the image(s).
Russian Look is the exclusive owner of the copyright for of XXXXXX. Russian Look images are subject to copyright protection under the Copyright Act, Title 17, United States Code. The Copyright Act does not require any kind of intent or knowledge on the part of the infringer that his or her use infringed upon another party's copyright. Therefore, even if you did not know that Russian Look images were copyrighted or that you lacked authorization to use them, you are still liable.

We have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of herein is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or by operation of law. I swear, under penalty of perjury, that I am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive rights that have been infringed. We hereby demand that you and any other entity acting on your behalf comply with the following:

•   If a valid license was purchased prior to the use of the image(s), please provide us the Sales Order, Invoice, or other License Information. If the image was licensed under an alternate company name (dba) or in the name of a third party, such as an advertising agency, please provide that company name and phone number. We will review that information and respond to you as quickly as possible.

•   If a valid license does not exist for the identified usage and you do not plan to use the image(s) moving forward, you must immediately cease and desist use of the image(s), and remove them from your website. In addition, to avoid further action, a payment of $1000.00 for the use of the image(s) in question must be received within 10 days of the date of this letter.

If possible, we can discuss the continued use of Russian Look Image(s) once the fee is paid for past use and if there is no conflict with any current licensed user.
While Russian Look is entitled to monetary damages from the infringing party under 17 U.S.C. Section 504, Russian Look believes that it may be expeditious to settle this matter without the need of costly and time-consuming litigation. In order to help you avoid further legal action from Russian Look, we have been authorized to offer a settlement solution that we believe is reasonable for everyone.

To access this settlement offer, please copy and paste the URL below into a browser and follow the instructions for the settlement offer:
https://imageprotect.com/payment_portal/xxxxxxxxxxxx


Very truly yours,
Jonathan Thomas
CEO
ImageProtect
1401 N El Camino Real, Ste 203
San Clemente, CA 92672
+1 949 361 3959
For any correspondence regarding this case, please send your emails to DMCA@ImageProtect.com and refer to Notice ID: xxxxxxxxxxxx. If you need immediate assistance or if you have general questions please call the number listed above.


I immediately took the image down and replied back to them asking for

1)   Proof that ImageProtect has the right to manage this image in question.

2)   Proof of proper copyright registration and the chain of title for the image.

3)   Provide sales data for the image.

4)   How the amount of $1000.00 was determined

I wonder what the likely hood of them providing this info and if they do then what?

Thanks for any advise I really do appreciate it.


stinger

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 766
    • View Profile
Re: ImageProtect Extortion Letter (Jonathan Thomas)
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2015, 09:12:29 AM »
This Jonathan Thomas guy is apparently proud of what he does.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathandthomas

You might want to research whether his firm has filed any lawsuits.  It is difficult to make money pursuing $1000 claims through our court system.  That might be difficult because he uses the camouflage of saying that he partners with law firms to pursue . . .

I also wonder why so many of these copyright trolls seems to come out of Hollywood type education backgrounds.  Lauren Kingston pursued a similar degree before hooking up with Timmy the troll.

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

  • ELI Defense Team Member
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3354
    • View Profile
    • ExtortionLetterInfo
Re: ImageProtect Extortion Letter (Jonathan Thomas)
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2015, 01:08:30 PM »
This name rings a bell, I'll have to dig through my asshat archives and see if he's in there..
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..

bertarecchia

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 1
    • View Profile
Re: ImageProtect Extortion Letter (Jonathan Thomas)
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2016, 09:32:55 AM »
Does any of you have any followup?
I got a letter too and it seems shady.

Engel Nyst

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 118
    • View Profile
Re: ImageProtect Extortion Letter (Jonathan Thomas)
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2016, 06:58:40 PM »
This Jonathan Thomas guy is apparently proud of what he does.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathandthomas

You might want to research whether his firm has filed any lawsuits.  It is difficult to make money pursuing $1000 claims through our court system.

Apparently he was involved in a settlement for 6-figures:
http://blog.digitalmedialicensing.org/?p=2531

buzzle. com, the website mentioned  looks like a space using many images, probably from many article writers.
The lawsuit is this:
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/3882680/Lived_In_Images,_Inc_v_Buzzlecom,_Inc,_et_al

Thomas writes for ImageProtect, and is CEO of Clear Arts. ClearArts is the name under which they developed some new (?) application that crawls the net for content.

Engel Nyst

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 118
    • View Profile

 

Official ELI Help Options
Get Help With Your Extortion Letter | ELI Phone Support Call | ELI Defense Letter Program
Show your support of the ELI website & ELI Forums through a PayPal Contribution. Thank you for supporting the ongoing fight and reporting of Extortion Settlement Demand Letters.