Need an opinion on a letter I received.

[galaga_z]

ideanj,

This is my first post on this website and when I came across your post, I had to reply. I'd also like to thank everyone who is a member of this site for all their contributions. I've learned so much in the hour I've been surfing the site.

I admit, I am a noob. I too received a notice for unathorized use of copyrighted images from Sanders Law, PLLC. Two photographs on my website were discovered by the trolls. The images are claim to be owned by National Photo Group and BPW. Well, the foolish and scared person I am called the company. I know, I made a mistake, but the letter stressed me out so much I felt I had to. I called the number that was given on the letter. After speaking with the paralegal who takes all the calls, I was able to be granted a retroactive license for $250 for each picture, for a toal of $500 bucks. I was able to set up a payment plan, and my first payment is due the 20th of December.

I feel like I've been suckered. I just wanted this problem out of my life and I guess I got what I wanted assuming I pay these a-holes. And from the sound of it, these trolls were really going to take me to court. They even drafted papers to take me to court demanding a jury trial. I am not law savy at all but I do understand when I'm about to be sued.

So, I'm posting this as a lesson for anyone reading this. Do your research...I didn't. I let these guys take 500 bucks of my hard earned cash because I was scared and foolish and didn't do my research. 

I sure hope you have better luck then I did, ideanj. I hope karma bites these guys back someday.

Anyhow, thanks for reading and wish me luck.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

if you didn't pay them yet, whose to say you can't change your mind? I would at the very least consider it..Maybe contact Oscar's Office and maybe save yourself a couple hundred.

[galaga_z]

Robert,

I've definitely thought about this. I'm also in the military and I receive free legal assistance, so I thought about going this route as well.

I noticed Oscar charges $250. Based on your experiences, does he have a pretty good success rate of getting his clients out of the mess the trolls created? I'm scared to pay $250 only to find out that he wasn't able to help my situation. I don't want to give those Sanders a-holes a dime of my cash, but if I can avoid a court room, I feel I have no choice.

Thanks for the reply, Robert. It really means a lot.

And ideanj, sorry to invade your forum post, but I really hope all these replies help your cause too.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Being as this is a new troll, you would need to speak with Oscar directly in terms of retaining him. The letter program doesn't cover all company's/trolls. But yeah the success rate is very good.. not a single lawsuit has been filed. But again this is a different beast, that have been filing suits like crazy.

[john82]

galaga_z - what were your pictures of?  The fact they were willing to settle for $250/pic is an interesting twist to the whole Sanders saga.  Prior to this, they hadn't been interested in settling on fees that low, only going to court.

[ideanj]

galaga_z - what were your pictures of?  The fact they were willing to settle for $250/pic is an interesting twist to the whole Sanders saga.  Prior to this, they hadn't been interested in settling on fees that low, only going to court.

I'm also interested in your answer. My copyright infringement involved a celebrity leaving a night club last July. Also, just an update, even though I sent the law firm that one email the first day I received a letter, I still have yet to hear back from them. I'm just not going to worry about it and play it by ear and go from there.

Still interesting they were willing to settle for $250 a pop though. With this firm that's been unheard of thus far.

[JLorimer]

ideanj, did the photo of the celebrity come from any of the popular gossip blogs?  Did it have any type of logo on it?

My situation also involves a candid celebrity photo.  I'm a little different in that I responded to a DMCA complaint to my domain registrar instead of receiving a letter in the mail.  I wonder if I will receive a letter.

I don't know a lot about these guys but I have been reading around the forum.  It seems they might have lost a majority of their past endeavors.  I'm wondering if they are willing to now accept $250 from those who will cough it up rather than take a complete loss.  To all of the regulars here, does that theory even make sense?

[ideanj]

ideanj, did the photo of the celebrity come from any of the popular gossip blogs?  Did it have any type of logo on it?

My situation also involves a candid celebrity photo.  I'm a little different in that I responded to a DMCA complaint to my domain registrar instead of receiving a letter in the mail.  I wonder if I will receive a letter.

I don't know a lot about these guys but I have been reading around the forum.  It seems they might have lost a majority of their past endeavors.  I'm wondering if they are willing to now accept $250 from those who will cough it up rather than take a complete loss.  To all of the regulars here, does that theory even make sense?

The image in question for me was an untagged high quality paparazzi shot of the celebrity leaving a nightclub in L.A. which I had received from an online colleague, however I'm not quite sure where they had originally received the photo. The picture received a total of 2 unique views and was on my servers for roughly 2-3 months. It's funny because I can list about a dozen other fansites for this celebrity whom have the exact same photo, same dimensions with some being tagged with the fan sites own logo or untagged.

As I said before though, I have yet to hear back from the firm after I dispatched my original email and after all of the amazing advice I have received from the posts within this thread, I'm pretty confident I can disregard it entirely until the firm forces me to do otherwise.

[JLorimer]

I sent an email reply on my case on November 21.  I have not received a phone call or email response yet.  It's too soon to say if I'm clear or not.  It seems like most of the other letters sent out on the same date as mine were to larger companies and LLCs.  I'm hoping they realized I'm a nobody and that I won't have any money to pay up if they try to get me.

[galaga_z]

Hye guys! Sorry for responding so late, I just logged on to a computer.

Anyhow, the pictures I am being questioned for by Sanders Law are both celebrity photos. One supposedly belongs belongs to National Photo Group, the other BWP media.

When I originally called the Sanders A-holes (about 1 1/2 months ago) I asked them If they would settle for a price lower then what they were asking ($250 per pic) if I paid in full. They didn't seem enthused with that question, and declined my offer. I told them I wanted to speak with a lawyer and asked them if I could have a few days to think over their offer. They gladly said yes. I NEVER CALLED THEM BACK hoping th nightmare would end. Guess what, it didn't. 1.5 months later I recieve another letter from the slimy trolls, but this time it had a drafted copy of court documents requesting a demand for jury trial. If I didn't respond, these dudes were really going to take me to court supposedly. I called them back immediately and their original offer still stood. I set up a payment plan, and now I'm here sharing my experience.

ideanj, if the trolls haven't responded to your initial email, I wouldn't try contacting them anymore. However, if someday they do reply, be advised that these guys want your money. The two options I had were to pay, or fight. I chose the former because I hate courtrooms. But do try and settle if you have the cash and want the scum bags out of your life.

Robert, thanks so much for your advice. If this ever happens again (knock on wood) I will defienitly hire him. I'm not going to keep playing these lawfirms games. I do know, what comes around goes around. SANDERS LAW WILL GET THEIRS WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT.

I hope my experience has shed light to others going through my my same situation. I took the cop out way by paying these douche bags. I hope someone fights these monsters someday.

Thanks for reading, peps. Cheers.

[JLorimer]

As far as I know so far, I am only being accused of using one picture.  That is, they only made one DMCA request to my host.  There could be more and they just took the lazy route of sending a notice about one to get my info so they could send me a letter.  If they are asking $250 per picture and I only have one, I feel like that puts me in an odd place.  I could get Oscar for $250 and risk having to pay more or I could pay $250 and give in to their scheme.  Heck, maybe they are asking that much because they visit this forum and they know that people are willing to shell out that much for the letter program.  Is that giving them too much credit?

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Josh, if do not have a registered agent in place, you need to go thru the entire site and remove any and all images you do not have a license for, unless you are hotlinking to images just to be safe.

[JLorimer]

Thanks.  I have definitely done that.  I have even gone over if four or five times now just to be sure.  I didn't mean to sound as if I felt safe with only one report and was hanging on to lots of others, I only meant to say that the complaint filed was only over one.  I'm hoping that is all but definitely not trusting in that.  Anything even remotely questionable has been down since the day I first received notice I had a complaint.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

You also need to check the WaybackMachine at https://archive.org/ and remove and images from there as well.

[JLorimer]

I have checked wayback.  The last time the site was indexed by wayback was prior to the image in question.  However, I am attempting to have my site removed from wayback in general.  I read their options for removal and did all that I could.  Some seem to link to pages that are long gone.

Do you know of resources beyond what wayback itself describes?

I have read this post http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/can-we-be-sued-for-wayback-machine-continuing-to-display-the-photo-in-question/

I will search for others.