ELI Forums > Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum
Beware of Photog Christopher Sadowski, Notorious Copyright Troll
kingkendall:
I want to bring attention to this guy. He's a photographer from New Jersey. He licenses photos to the New York Post and news organizations in Northern New Jersey. He's also a notorious copyright troll that has filed multiple lawsuits using different lawyers including Mathew Higbee. Don't use this guy's stuff no matter what kind of photo it is. Even if it's a picture of a car that is double parked, Sadowski will come after you for it with an outrageous amount.
Can I get an assist?
I been having trouble logging in Pacer. If anyone can post the lawsuits filed by this guy I think the community would benefit?
DavidVGoliath:
Hold on a second; if Sadowski is a freelance photographer who licenses their work to the NY Post... then exactly how is he "trolling" when they discover unlicensed uses of their work and expect compensation - especially if they have gone the extra mile to register their work with the US Copyright Office?
Here's a simple rule: instead of saying "Don't use this guy's stuff no matter what kind of photo it is", howsabout "Don't use photographs you haven't gotten permission to use and/or have a provable license for"
DavidVGoliath:
--- Quote from: kingkendall on April 09, 2017, 10:00:23 AM ---Instead of acting like a gentlemen by sending note asking to remove his photo from a website, he immediately goes to a extortion letter from a law firm looking to cash in for an amount of money much higher than the license fee he got from where his work is published.
--- End quote ---
Howabout acting like a gentleman and don't use photographs that you a) haven't taken yourself, or b) haven't obtained a license/permission for?
Also, there is nothing writ into 17 USC that mandates a creator to request you simply stop using their work before they retail counsel, or even file a petition with the courts. Nothing. Zilch. Zip. Nada. You're gonna bleat about courtesy when you likely haven't performed a measure of diligence before you used a photograph? Did you make any effort to find out who the rightsholder was before using their work?
Oh, and here's one more thing for you to consider:
“[The infringer] cannot expect to pay the same price in damages as it might have paid after freely negotiated bargaining, or there would be no reason scrupulously to obey the copyright law.”, Iowa State Univ. Res. Found., Inc. v. Am. Broad. Cos., 475 F.Supp. 78, 83 (S.D.N.Y.1979) aff'd, 621 F.2d 57 (2d Cir.1980)
clist:
I agree with @DavidVGoliath here.
People shouldn't just assume that they can just take [and use] whatever media (eg: images, audio, video, etc) they want from the web without consequence.
With that said, I do feel that there should be a dmca takedown type of approach amended into the existing copyright law [that specifically applies to the web] which grants [the infringer] an opportunity to rectify their mistakes before any legal action can be allowed to be taken against them.
I believe this approach would most certainly curb the "extortion" behavior that seems to populate the threads in this forum.
$.02
Matthew Chan:
There is no question that infringements have become epidemic often due to people's ignorance.
I must confess that I agree that people have been too loose about using images that aren't theirs. People need to do a lot more due diligence before using images.
But I also object to the outrageous, disproportionate amounts also. I also object to the lies, deceit, and manipulation that many people use also. I also object the presumption and expectation of large payments that have no basis in reality.
--- Quote from: DavidVGoliath on April 09, 2017, 03:34:55 PM ---Howabout acting like a gentleman and don't use photographs that you a) haven't taken yourself, or b) haven't obtained a license/permission for?
Also, there is nothing writ into 17 USC that mandates a creator to request you simply stop using their work before they retail counsel, or even file a petition with the courts. Nothing. Zilch. Zip. Nada. You're gonna bleat about courtesy when you likely haven't performed a measure of diligence before you used a photograph? Did you make any effort to find out who the rightsholder was before using their work?
Oh, and here's one more thing for you to consider:
“[The infringer] cannot expect to pay the same price in damages as it might have paid after freely negotiated bargaining, or there would be no reason scrupulously to obey the copyright law.”, Iowa State Univ. Res. Found., Inc. v. Am. Broad. Cos., 475 F.Supp. 78, 83 (S.D.N.Y.1979) aff'd, 621 F.2d 57 (2d Cir.1980)
--- End quote ---
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