Unfavorable Court Rulings ?? Getty ??

[MikeD]

Even if you've been infringed upon, you still have to threaten many people, you may become paranoid when a strange car parks in front of your house, you have to pay thousands up-front for a lawyer just to take your case, and you may never even collect a single cent.

SG, you make a good point. 

I would be nervous sending out all of these extortion letters, knowing that there are a lot of crazies out there who might actually come looking for you.  You never know what state a person will be in when they get that extortion letter, did someone close to them just die, are they going through a divorce, did they just lose their job?  You're playing with fire and I imagine if you do it long enough, you will get burned.

[SoylentGreen]

Thanks for the support, MikeD.

Here's a little cartoon which I think sums up some people's experiences with the stock photo business and rogue photogs:



S.G.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

SG,
Do you know something we don't know about Ryan McGinnis and improperly registering images?? You've got me curious.

[SoylentGreen]

I get the feeling that Ryan has the same weak copyright registrations as the other trolls.
His lawyer created that elaborate demand letter, but added no copyright info.
So, it just screams "weak registration".

S.G.

[newzshooter]

I don't think you'll be seeing the mass registrations in the future. The Copyright Office has begun requesting that registrants issue a title of each work with collective submissions. I've got a feeling that it will become a rule in the not too distant future.
My largest collection was about 500 images, all submitted online, and took me several hours to complete. Adding a title to each image, and then adding the title into the collection titles will add quite a bit more work to the process. For me, it means that I'll probably keep my collective works submissions to somewhere between 200-300 images.
On the plus side, it'll take away any doubt about whether an image is registered or not and may cut down on frivolous litigation.

As for being worried that I'll anger a nutcase, not really. I don't send letters to "John/Jane Doe", I research the site/owner/ceo before I commence any action.

[Oscar Michelen]

The Title requirement will slow down the compilation filings, but I wouldn't be surprised if they dont ask for that for larger filers.