Messages

46

Getty Images Letter Forum / Publicly Shaming Trolls?

« on: August 06, 2015, 02:41:53 PM »

As a publisher with a reasonably well read blog I feel empowered to shed some light on this copyright troll issue.  We had our own back and forth with a troll last year which I ended up (perhaps foolishly) settling with.  At any rate, I'd very much like to publish some of the email exchanges I had with these clowns as part of a series of articles simply as a way to illustrate their tactics, aggression, and expose their idea of ethics.  Basically I want to shame the industry for what it's worth.

I know a lot has been republished here despite troll's claims that such things are private and so on. Curious if there is any real risk in angering the troll post settlement here.  I'm guessing no, since I never signed anything promising to keep it private, but it would be helpful to hear best practices on this!

47

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Any new news on Masterfile?

« on: August 06, 2015, 02:37:32 PM »

So you mean that the defendants in these cases falsely claimed to be represented by Oscar? The way the trolls write their complaint makes it sound as though Oscar wrote them a letter then never followed up.  I'm assuming this is not true given Oscar's good reputation around here. 

That said, I did ask him for a letter last year on our own troll problem and never heard back from him. I ended up paying the bastards just to remove the stress.

48

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Any new news on Masterfile?

« on: August 05, 2015, 06:24:02 PM »

Scary stuff.  The first one of those (concerning "Eclipse Roofing") seems to involve Oscar.  They claim that they "attempted to contact Oscar via email more than 20 times" and he never responded, hence the suit.

Curious if this is actually true?
And even scarier that these clowns are suing over a single image?

49

Getty Images Letter Forum / Any new news on Masterfile?

« on: August 05, 2015, 02:34:03 PM »

The consensus here on the board is that Masterfile is among the trolls most likely to be aggressive and actually sue people.  Still almost all the stories here are at least 3 years old.  I'm wondering has anyone dealt with these guys in recent months? Last thing I can find on the boards here is a reference to a suite in 2011... anyone seen evidence that they are stepping up their aggression or actually suing people?

50

Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Sample replies? Best course of action to take?

« on: May 11, 2015, 04:53:27 PM »

Cool, thanks.  Well I guess I still would love to do the protection letter which I was hoping we had done months ago, but Oscar never responded.  If he reads this, hopefully we can get it going.  It's probably overkill, but you know, peace of mind!

51

Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Sample replies? Best course of action to take?

« on: May 11, 2015, 04:46:25 PM »

Yeah, neither the firm nor the "client" come up in any searches that this site suggests so they're either new to this racket or something else. They did indeed send what they claim was proof of an image on my domain that matched something their client holds a copyright to. Of course, in good faith, I simply deleted it as soon as I got the first letter so I can only verify that there was something vaguely similar not that it was actually the client's image.

I find it kind of funny that people think regular mail is more reliable than email, but, whatever works.  Anyway, it wasn't even me who supposedly took this image, rather it was simply a user of my platform who probably got it from somewhere with bad/no documentation. We explicitly prohibit users from posting copywritten material.  As such, I'm fairly certain that I'm protected by DMCA and so on. 

But you know, I'm paranoid.  These people are pretty shameless.

52

Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Sample replies? Best course of action to take?

« on: May 11, 2015, 03:01:56 PM »

Hey guys, well, it's been more than 6 months and suddenly these guys have re-surfaced.  Got a very short email claiming they'll take legal action in 7 days unless I pay them, nothing attached or anything.  I'm guessing their calendar just went off and this is just another obnoxious threat with no merit, but of course, I'm paranoid again.

Oscar - I emailed you guys a bunch of times about the defense letter but never heard back from you. Even filled out the form.  I'd probably like to do this if you're still reading these forums.

53

Getty Images Letter Forum / How long does it take to establish DMCA Agent?

« on: October 13, 2014, 06:07:15 PM »

Hi guys, so I filled out this form: http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/agent.pdf  And paid the $115 to become a DMCA agent for my site. 

This was over 6 weeks ago and I've received no communication and the check I sent appears to not have been cashed yet (still stunned these people use checks, but that's another story).

Anyway.... is this normal?  Am I supposed to receive some kind of confirmation?

54

Getty Images Letter Forum / Does the letter writing service still operate?

« on: September 26, 2014, 05:54:44 PM »

Hey guys, I've sent in my stuff to the letter writing service 2 weeks ago with a couple follow ups and never got a reply. You guys still doing it? Or just swamped?

55

Getty Images Letter Forum / Question on how an actual lawsuit works...

« on: September 25, 2014, 07:48:42 PM »

Howdy.  Well, it's been 2 weeks since my last communication with my troll, I've take a lot of steps to protect myself, consulted an attorney etc...  Fingers crossed this will all pass, but I'm curious if anyone knows how an actual lawsuit would manifest.

ie, in California, if these guys actually decided to pursue a lawsuit do they just mail something to me declaring it? or do they have to physically send some guy to "serve" it.  If they do decide to take some kind of action, how long do these people putter around before doing so? ie, if another 2 weeks goes by can I let out my breath? a month?

56

Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Sample replies? Best course of action to take?

« on: September 22, 2014, 04:37:39 PM »

Thanks again for everyone's help.  Hopefully last question:

How long does this DMCA registration usually take? Do I get any sort of confirmation?

57

Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Sample replies? Best course of action to take?

« on: September 14, 2014, 08:42:04 PM »

Yeah, I'm cool with that.  If there's one thing I can say for certain, none of my posts have anything questionable in them!

58

Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Sample replies? Best course of action to take?

« on: September 14, 2014, 05:26:01 PM »

Cool. Well since my agent will be *me* then I guess it's all good for now.

59

Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Sample replies? Best course of action to take?

« on: September 14, 2014, 04:18:53 PM »

Thanks!  This DMCA request seems ridiculously simple.  They just want my name and $105? Is there some kind of actual vetting process? This form doesn't even ask for a URL...

60

Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Sample replies? Best course of action to take?

« on: September 14, 2014, 02:07:40 PM »

Interesting... so, forgive the newbie question again, but I'm using this form: http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/agent.pdf

So I can be both the agent and the "office representing the designated service provider" ?