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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Copyright Registration Question

« on: May 23, 2018, 09:52:26 AM »

I received the standard email from Higbee a few days ago.

So I searched https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First to try and verify if the image Higbee is referring to was actually registered.  Here's what I found:

• The image is indeed registered
• The Date of Creation & Date of Publication of the image were back in the 1990s.
• However the Registration Date was in late 2017
• The date that the alleged infringement started was years before the 2017 Registration

Conveniently the Registration Date is approx 3 months prior to me receiving the first 'email' about the issue.

I want to confirm my understanding of all this.  To me it looks like these trolls are actively registering Copyrights of very old images AFTER they discover an alleged infringement so they can slap a "registered" sticker on their extortion letter.

Am I missing something? 

Or am I correct that this "registration" is far too late and that the provisions in 17 U.S. Code § 412 are not in play (no award of statutory damages or of attorney’s fees).

It just seems strange that they'd go to the effort (and expense) of belatedly registering the copyright.

thanks