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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Higbee response to my email

« on: June 06, 2017, 02:24:53 PM »

So, I sent Higbee a one paragraph email stating that if I inadvertantly used their client's photo on our blog then I am willing to pay the $250 the licensing fee he charges for 2 years.  I told him we took the picture down immediately upon receipt of his letter.  By the way, there was no link to the owner that stated his fees for using his pictures back when I found the picture of a deer.  That was added later in February of this year, the same month I got the letter.  If I had known this picture had to be paid for I would have never used it in the first place.

The response I got (from one of Higbee's assistants) was that their client refused my offer and told me to either pay the full $3000 or get a lawyer.  His client is in the UK.   I was able to track him down and find that he is legit.  I also have his email address.

I have one question.  I plan to write another email to Higbee letting him know I'm aware of his scheme to extort people for copyright infringement and that we are prepared to go to court if that's the route they chose to go.  We have no money as we are a small non-profit ministry which I receive no income from.  I'm on Social Security Disability which means they cannot attach money from my check.  I have no problem paying the licensing fee for our mistake but the $3000 is not even possible. 

My question is this; when I send my email response to Higbee letting him know what I just shared here, do you think it would be wise or unwise to send a CC to the owner of the picture? 

Appreciate any feedback you have to offer.

Thanks!

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Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / How can I verify a copyright Certificate of Registration number online?

« on: May 13, 2017, 02:03:04 PM »

I got a letter from Higbee and Associates telling me I used someone's picture on our website without his authorization.  They want $3000 to settle this.  I looked at the picture and found no evidence whatsoever that it is copyrighted or that it needed to be paid for by anyone.  It was on google images.  We are a very small ministry and it was a picture of a deer for my wife's blog.  I'd like to verify that this picture is legitimately copyrighted by this person before I proceed to respond to Higbee's demand for payment.  They did send me a copy of the certificate of registration but when I typed it in on one of the websites that searches for this (not sure it's legitimate) it showed that there was no copyright for this picture.  Any suggestions would be very helpful.  By the way, I found this person who they claim is the copyright owner of the picture on Facebook.  Would it be unwise for me to contact him directly and see if he owns this and hopefully he will be willing to not charge me or lower the fee?  Thanks.