Messages

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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Copyright Registration Question

« on: May 23, 2018, 04:37:05 PM »

A registration certificate and the registration database online prove NOTHING.  I could make up a whole song and dance about how I registered some photo and that registration certificate covers the photo, but unless you get something directly from the copyright office I wouldn't believe anything I'm told.  How often do people tell fibs about what is covered by their group registration of photos?  Probably all the time, and the only real way to find out is in court.

In the case of this photo, the proper response is ignore and dump into the trash bin.  They have no options to collect anything from you that are even remotely financially viable.

But if you get the registration number of the photo can't you look it up here: https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First

I assume a certificate would have the number on it no? So I don't see why they would make that up. That being said I completely agree to dump it in the trash if it's not registered.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Pixsy demand email

« on: May 20, 2018, 02:24:29 PM »

If you haven't heard from them in 2 months then that tells me they have no leg to stand on for further escalation.

So from what I've read, Pixsy can do nothing but threaten you. They are not a law firm. Furthermore, if the author did not register their work before the infringement (or 3 months after it was first published), they cannot claim statutory damages or lawyer fees in court. The most they can do is get the value of the work, which isn't even worth the filing fees or cost of hiring a lawyer for them.

In my case they set about 3 deadlines for me to pay and I haven't, if they wanted to file a lawsuit they would have by now. I've told them that the amount they're asking for this photo is too much, as I can find one on shutterstock for $15. Their response is that this is the authors rate for licensing his photo. This is bullshit because Pixsy takes 50% of that fee, so the authors rate is half of that. Also the author doesn't actually sell his work anywhere, so there is no basis for what he charges. Why charge $700 when he could charge $10,000 or $100,000?

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Has pixsy ever taken serious legal action?

« on: May 09, 2018, 06:35:13 PM »

Hi, I've been reading around about these copyright trolls but most of the posts are about Copytrack and Picrights. There's not much about Pixsy. Pixsy keeps sending me emails, and they have called once (didn't answer), threatening further legal action if I don't cough up the money ($750). The image is worth maybe $15. They sent an "evidence report" that shows a screenshot of the blog but it contains all broken photo links. Archive.org doesn't show the image being used on my blog (was taken down last year).

Since they have no evidence, how likely is it that Pixsy tries to sue?

Thanks

4

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Pixsy demand email

« on: May 08, 2018, 06:37:19 PM »

I appreciate not all situations are the same but if someone has successfully ignored these demand letters or had legal action taken against them because they did, then at least I have some insight to make a more informed decision.

Hi mac14,

I am going through a similar situation with Pixsy at the moment: threats have come in - I have taken the image down but now they are threatening legal action if I do not pay up. I have not responded to any communication so far

I'm willing to contribute for the image use but do not feel they are asking a fair price.

Can I ask if you have had any updates/progress on this since last month? And also how you went about negotiating the price?

Hi, any updates on this? I've got an extortion letter from them and they want $750, their saying it's commercial use but I say it's editorial use as I wasn't making money. This photo was taken down along time ago and there's no clear evidence that the photo was ever used, I didn't write the blog someone else did so I'm not even sure if they used the image. What to do?

Thanks