I recently received 7 letters from CEG TEK International demanding $500 for copyright infringement with the following content (not all content from the letters)
"You are hereby notified that unauthorized use of XXXXX's Work on the website identified above is a violation of the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 106. In this regard, request is hereby made that you either:
(i) Produce proof of license of said image by emailing it to: [email protected]. If you are in possession of a valid license from XXX for the use of the image, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. XXXX has a diligent protection policy to ensure consistent, optimum value and quality for its loyal customers.
OR
(ii) Remit settlement in the amount of $500.00 by visiting https://www.copyrightsettlements.com/XXXXXX and immediately and permanently cease and desist the unauthorized use and display of said image.
If you do not already hold a valid license or settle as described above, you may be held liable for monetary damages, including attorney's fees and court costs if a lawsuit is commenced against you. You have until November 05, 2012 to access the settlement offer and settle online.
If you fail to respond, settle, or produce proof of license within the prescribed time period, the claim will be referred to our attorneys for legal action. At that point, the original settlement offer will no longer be an option and the amount will increase as a result of us having to involve our attorneys."
The images were only on the site due to resizing. There was no editing of their information from the pictures. The text before the images stated where they were from and linked back to where they were from. My site is a non-commercial site and were removed immediately. There were less than 200 different visitors (less after you remove spiders and other bots) to said page and the images were up for appx 12 days.
So, 7 images at $500 each is $3500. Pretty steep for a stupid mistake, little traffic, and no intent to infringe on my part.
I don't want to deal with lawsuits and courts (I don't really have time). Most of the information I've seen here is in regards to Getty images or P2P other than the Lidsay Lohan site in which the owner paid and shut it down. I've really seen nothing to suggest there is much more I can do other than try and negotiate lower payments or fight and eventually go to court? Has anyone tried contacting the original image owners to negotiate a deal instead of dealing with these extortionists?
Thanks
"You are hereby notified that unauthorized use of XXXXX's Work on the website identified above is a violation of the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 106. In this regard, request is hereby made that you either:
(i) Produce proof of license of said image by emailing it to: [email protected]. If you are in possession of a valid license from XXX for the use of the image, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. XXXX has a diligent protection policy to ensure consistent, optimum value and quality for its loyal customers.
OR
(ii) Remit settlement in the amount of $500.00 by visiting https://www.copyrightsettlements.com/XXXXXX and immediately and permanently cease and desist the unauthorized use and display of said image.
If you do not already hold a valid license or settle as described above, you may be held liable for monetary damages, including attorney's fees and court costs if a lawsuit is commenced against you. You have until November 05, 2012 to access the settlement offer and settle online.
If you fail to respond, settle, or produce proof of license within the prescribed time period, the claim will be referred to our attorneys for legal action. At that point, the original settlement offer will no longer be an option and the amount will increase as a result of us having to involve our attorneys."
The images were only on the site due to resizing. There was no editing of their information from the pictures. The text before the images stated where they were from and linked back to where they were from. My site is a non-commercial site and were removed immediately. There were less than 200 different visitors (less after you remove spiders and other bots) to said page and the images were up for appx 12 days.
So, 7 images at $500 each is $3500. Pretty steep for a stupid mistake, little traffic, and no intent to infringe on my part.
I don't want to deal with lawsuits and courts (I don't really have time). Most of the information I've seen here is in regards to Getty images or P2P other than the Lidsay Lohan site in which the owner paid and shut it down. I've really seen nothing to suggest there is much more I can do other than try and negotiate lower payments or fight and eventually go to court? Has anyone tried contacting the original image owners to negotiate a deal instead of dealing with these extortionists?
Thanks