Fake Lawsuit?

[bbdhong]

I recently received a copyright infringement and settlement demanding letter same as you guys. After reading this forum and researching by myself. I found this lawyer or photographer is not a typical pattern of extortion demanding as I can find in this forum (I may be wrong) and would like to share this info.  And get some your opinion.

Here are some facts I found.

1.   Photographer is in Europe and the representing lawyer is in Washington State. He registered only one image in March 2017.
2.   The allegedly infringed image has been widely available in Free Image or Free Background Image over 10 years  - searched in google image, meaning there should be plenty innocent infringement.
3.   They started to file lawsuits. I found 2 lawsuits filed from US Courts Archive. Both of them are filed in New York, October 2017. The representing lawyer in Washington State and the actual filing lawyer in NY are different. It looks like NY lawyer is hired or working together. I searched the actual filing lawyer and he is advertising as "No Fee Unless We win" on his website.
4.   The documents are not available for one case but the other case available in public site. I tried to contact this dependent but company telephone number (1-877-) cannot be reachable from my area. I also sent email found on the website but returned back “address not found”.

Are they filed a fake lawsuit to intimidate others who received the demanding letter from this lawyer or photographer?  I am not sure whether this photographer hired this lawyer or the lawyer found this photographer since his image may be a perfect source for the mass extortion demanding letter. I think the latter is the case given the facts I found in above. The lawsuit filing time is so fast, I found in this forum that Getty or other copyright infringement lawyers usually file cases in year 2 or 3 of limitation of the statute.

Thank you. I didn't reveal the actual lawyer name and photographer in here since I am not sure whether it's OK to write or not in public forum. Please bear with me as I am a newbie here and any advice or opinion will be welcomed.

[Matthew Chan]

It is entirely appropriate to truthfully name the lawyer and the photographer involved. In fact, it is more helpful if you want better advice/suggestions. It is hard to evaluate without some names because the ELI Community can often research and reference the parties to determine if they are new to us or have been previously reported. But you should also know that the ELI Forums is sometimes read by "the other side". So you should keep that in mind. 

It is entirely appropriate for a lawyer in one state to hire another lawyer in another state to work a case. But the lawyer being hired will generally NOT work for commission/contingency.  Someone has to front the filing fees and the work involved to file the lawsuit.

[bbdhong]

Thanks, Yes I read that the other party is also reading this site.

The photographer is Paul Steeger and the lawyer is Mark Saku, PLLC practicing in Seattle. They filed two lawsuits in October with Liebowitz Law Firm, PLLC in New York.

It looks like I will have a higher chance to get a lawsuit by them. They seem to target allegedly innocent copyright infringers who run a small business as all you know. It's kind of bullshit that they are thinking those are easily scared. I am trying to collect more information about them, just in case, they file a lawsuit against me. I am at the stage of strategic planning how to respond them. I am even considering counterclaim if it's the case.

[Matthew Chan]

I think you are making a big leap with your assumptions.  Two lawsuits does not show any particular pattern. It just means 2 cases. Who knows how many other cases they did not file lawsuits on. We don't know how much they asked to settle. We don't know the responses of the defendants.

One thing I do know is that people don't like to file lawsuits against parties who are unlikely to pay. And a lawsuit can simply be motivation device to get the other side to settle.

For most people, the should negotiate a settlement. Not because a lawsuit will be filed against them.  But their own inability to cope with the stress and uncertainty.  And most people really have little understanding on what a lawsuit actually means in practical terms. I am not a lawyer but I have a good enough understanding that I could give a 3-hour seminar on what it means in "practical terms". But many people's eyes will glaze because of the information overload or because it becomes too many variables to juggle.  They want someone to tell them DEFINITIVELY what to do. Very few people will do that.  Telling people to settle is easier than telling people to learn and getting educated on the finer points.

I do know that many people have bad assumptions on what they "SHOULD" do vs. what they could do.

This is a civil matter, not a criminal matter. The world will not end even if there is a lawsuit. And not all lawsuits have to be responded to. There are lots of granularity to this but most of it is irrelevant because most people are governed by the fear and uncertainty. The time and effort to learn is too much for many people. It overwhelms them.

Many people should settle so they get closure and don't have to lose sleep or stress over it. Even if a case is low-risk and a lawsuit is unlikely to happen, with some people, I would still tell them to settle if I thought they had little ability to control the inner chattering of their brain.

[bbdhong]

It looks like this photographer and lawyer are typical as shown in this site if you didn't find any unusual pattern.

I really appreciate your valuable opinions. I was freaked out at the first time and calm down after found this forum. I even get peaceful as I am educated from this site and understand what I can do. The lawsuits are unpleasant to any person, not only for copyright infringement but any other cases. That is why this industry is proliferating, or at least not go away to the innocent people. They should follow the real and willful copyright infringers. I am learning how to deal with them and live with that. It is absolutely worth to learn as we live on.

Thank you again and you are saving numerous innocent victims.

[Matthew Chan]

Yes, people who read these forums and pay attention will pick up a lot of helpful nuggets that they can take into aspects of their personal and business life.  It is all about getting educated, learning how to evaluate the situation, evaluate your inner self, and deciding or adapting to a course of action.

In the grand scheme of things, there are much worse legal things people can face in life than getting an annoying copyright infringement letter. It is a big inconvenience, not a catastrophic event. But the copyright enforcers wants your imagination to run wild of all the nasty things that could happen.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

4.   The documents are not available for one case but the other case available in public site.

If the documents are not available, they don't exist, therefore no lawsuit exists..ALL suits are a matter of public record. Try searching pacer.gov.