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Nicholas Youngson Photographer (Rep. by Higbee Associates) Copyright Abuse

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Ethan Seven:
Here is some information from various threads on this forum to consider when evaluating claims made by RM Media.

- If you have not already done so, remove the image or comply with license attribution requirements
- The demand amount is negotiable, so you can offer them a substantially lower amount
- RM Media has filed several lawsuits in the US.
- If you look like you do not have assets, you are way less likely to get sued.
- If they sue you, they will probably ask for much more money than they are now.
- If you are comfortable with the risk of getting sued, you can trying ignoring it and hope they do not sue you for three years, after that, it will be beyond the statute of limitations for that particular claim. 
- If they do sue you, they will try to use the fact that you did not offer to settle the claim against you in effort to persuade the judge to make you pay their attorneys fees.
- Have an attorney evaluate your claim for possible defenses to infringement, such as fair use or for mitigating factors that would give you leverage to reduce or eliminate liability

Higbee & Associates has no record of adverse action from any state bar association.   Draw whatever inferences you like from that when considering how worth while it is to spend your time complaining to the state bar.  If you think their client’s claim has no merit, you or your attorney can tell it to the judge in the form of a motion to dismiss and for sanctions.

Finally, read my important disclaimer below. 

ohhellno:
Everyone impacted by Nick Youngson claims really should read and understand the Memorandum of Law filed by Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C. in their case against Higbee and Youngson. Essentially it boils down to whether the attribution requirement of the Creative Commons license was a covenant (a term of the contract that would allow Youngson to sue for breach of contract and damages, but not copyright violation) or a condition (failing to attribute means that the license was invalid, and thus allowing Youngson to bring a copyright violation claim). The Youngson websites "mysteriously" changed for many images this summer to add language stating that attribution is a CONDITION, highlighting (IMO) that previously it was a covenant. Because most people make zero dollars off their images, they have no damages to sue under the covenant/breach of contract claim. Youngson also conveniently scrubbed the websites off the wayback machine around the same time, likely to hide the fact that it previously stated it was just "required" = covenant. Luckily we were able to capture an image before they did this, so we have pictures of the "before" and "after" showing how they changed the language on the website to try to retroactively make attribution a condition. I think that Youngson/Higbee realized they messed up, and so added the language to make their honeypot more effective. But what that means is that everyone caught up in this scam prior to the website being edited MAY have a strong argument that there was only a failed covenant of the license (which basically means no $ for Youngson/Higbee), but no basis for a copyright violation claim (where the big bucks are). Everyone getting letters from them should obviously consult an attorney in their jurisdiction, but I think the MOL is a useful read.

https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/new-york/nyedce/2:2018cv03353/418211/11/0.pdf

Matthew Chan:
It seems that nycopyrightabuse has moved on by the lack of response. My speculation is that he probably settled the matter as most people do to simply have closure.

And I confirmed that the original poster had honorable intentions and what they were trying to do. However, it was THEIR approach and efforts.  I neither endorse or condemn their efforts. Generally speaking, I don't go out of my way to find out how people resolve their cases.  People generally report back to me if they feel inclined.


--- Quote from: marketer44 on October 30, 2018, 08:36:55 PM ---@nycopyrightabuse: How did your case end? What did you use as evidence to fight or case?

@Matthew Chan: Please help to confirm the legitimacy of these users as they stated they have reached out to you regarding these matters, and would be getting back to you with facts about their legitimacy to " hammering all of the details out in a swift fashion and to your satisfaction".

--- End quote ---

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