Beware of Photographer Nicholas (Nick) Youngson of NYPhotographic.com

[Matthew Chan]

This mention of trolls making phone calls I haven't heard in a long while. Apparently, Higbee is new to this.

This is a small list what I would consider doing regarding unwanted phone calls:

1. Screen calls.
2. Let calls go to voicemail. If they got anything to say, let them say it there. If not, then good.
3. Block the number.
4. Install a voice recording app and record the conversation.  If you are in a 1-state consent state, you can record them without notice. If you are in a 2-state consent state, you interrupt them and say. "Before you say anything, I am letting you know I am recording this call." And honestly, for me personally (not advice to anyone), if I have an uninvited, unsolicited, or suspicious call, I will record them anyway as I think prosecutor offices have better things to do than go after citizens who are simply trying to protect and defend themselves.
5. Instruct them in writing that their calls unwelcome and they should not call the number anymore.

The easiest thing to do is screen all unknown calls and let it go to voicemail. The least amount of drama.  I highly recommend Google Voice. Lots of great features.

Thanks.  No action taken yet, just a bunch of harassing telephone calls from Higbee office, and most recently a call from a woman claiming to be an attorney indicating she will be filing suit in federal court.  Do I call their bluff and do nothing, or do I file off a letter in response stating image was removed and try to argue they have no claim because the image was on a site listed "free for commercial use" etc etc.  This has been going on for a few months now and they are turning up the pressure.

[Defender]

Thanks Matthew.  Great advice and tips on the unsolicited phone calls.

I'm really wondering if you think we should respond in writing (email or letter) telling them to get lost and advising that image was removed and that the image was initially posted on a site listed "free for commercial use".  Is it worth doing that or do we just sit back and wait? 

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

I would not mention anything about the free site, it doesn't matter where you got the image.  The only way talking about that might help you is if you went to court to show it was an innocent infringement and not a willful one.  Just my opinion.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

I think the lesson to learn from this is that unless you purchase the rights to an image, take the picture yourself or it is a public domain image someone owns the rights to it. 

I would STRONGLY  suggest that if you have ANY other images on your site(s) that do not meet the above qualifications you remove them immediately, also from your server and the wayback machine.  You can purchase good quality images for just a few bucks from reputable image companies like POND5.com.   

What you do will depend on your ability to deal with this.  Yes, you will get calls (which Matthew has already told you how to handle) and letters, all the information you need is here in articles and the knowledge base of it's members but it all comes down to you and how well you can handle it.  Some go silent, some fight and some pay just to make it go away.  You have to decide what is best for you.

[Matthew Chan]

Education is a process. You have just begun the process. Most of the "hard" facts are out here but if you don't settle, there is uncertainty.  Hence, all the angst and stress.

There is a psychological component to how all this works. It has been discussed frequently.

Time is on your side.  However, if you need someone to help you sort things out and apply it specifically to your issues and situation, I do offer the ELI Support Call program:
http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/eli-phone-support-call-with-matthew-chan/

Way better and informative than hiring some lawyer to try to translate all this for you.

We don't know what to do. Reading this forum is comforting, knowing I'm not alone... But it does make it seem like our choices are haggle and pay this person some obscene amount of money, or put up with a barrage of phone calls for years and pray they don't sue at some point.

[someco]

I've posted previously about being one of the targets, looks like there's a lot of us.
Some useful info I found, FYI for all -
- if you want to check whether the image is actually included in the copyright they sent you, you can do so by "inspecting the copyright deposit". It costs $100. The copyright office said "Processing your request will begin once the U.S. Copyright Office receives the payment of applicable fees. To expedite receipt of payment, we recommend calling Records Research and Certification at 202-707-6787 to submit payment by credit card.  The office is open Monday through Friday (except holidays), from 8:30am - 5:00pm EST. A staff member will assist you with payment." Email [email protected]
- some informal legal advice I got was to keep any response minimal - "removed image" or some such. There is personal liability possible even if this was done through a corporation etc i.e. it seems copyright infringement, if proven, can "pierce the corporate veil" for personal liability for statutory damages or other settlement. I don't know all the legal details here by a long shot, so this is not legal advice, but just be careful what you share with them.

Thanks to folks who are sharing their approach - ignore it, negotiate (seems like they go as low as $750), threaten to counter-sue for entrapment. I let them know the image was removed etc - they continue to harass via email and letter. I am getting legal advice before I decide whether to ignore, settle, or what. But my heart rate is more normalized now that I have the support of this forum. Needless to say this is an unneeded and unwelcome waste of time and $ :-s
Thanks.

[kvanvreckem]

I've posted previously about being one of the targets, looks like there's a lot of us.
Some useful info I found, FYI for all -
- if you want to check whether the image is actually included in the copyright they sent you, you can do so by "inspecting the copyright deposit". It costs $100. The copyright office said "Processing your request will begin once the U.S. Copyright Office receives the payment of applicable fees. To expedite receipt of payment, we recommend calling Records Research and Certification at 202-707-6787 to submit payment by credit card.  The office is open Monday through Friday (except holidays), from 8:30am - 5:00pm EST. A staff member will assist you with payment." Email [email protected]
- some informal (and too late :-s) legal advice I got was to keep any response minimal - "removed image" or some such. There is personal liability possible even if this was done through a corporation etc i.e. it seems copyright infringement, if proven, can "pierce the corporate veil" for personal liability for statutory damages or other settlement. I don't know all the legal details here by a long shot, so this is not legal advice, but just be careful what you share with them.

Thanks to folks who are sharing their approach - ignore it, negotiate (seems like they go as low as $750), threaten to counter-sue for entrapment. I let them know the image was removed etc - they continue to harass via email and letter. I am getting legal advice before I decide whether to ignore, settle, or what. But my heart rate is more normalized now that I have the support of this forum. Needless to say this is an unneeded and unwelcome waste of time and $ :-s
Thanks.

I can confirm this forum has helped me a lot for my own piece of mind.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

why pay 100.00? when you can search the copyright database for free and it is upon them to prove their case.. if you are going to respond demand they send you documentation of registration. Obviously if they have it, they will send it, why wouldn't they?

[someco]

@BuddhaPi - yes, definitely. If I respond again, it will be with a bunch of demands including the detailed registration info. However as far as I can find out, the only way to search the copyright database for free is by going in person to the Washington DC location - which I can't do. From what the copyright office told me via email, the only other way to do it is $100 payment so they can pull the deposited images. If you know other ways, please do share!
Thanks!

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Searching the online Copyright Office records is free and easy. You can search through copyright files by visiting the Copyright Office at www.copyright.gov/records. All copyright information is located in the Public Catalog (click “Search Public Catalog”) which contains information about works registered since January 1978. Included are published and unpublished text works, maps, motion pictures, music, sound recordings, works of the performing and visual arts, graphic artworks, and games. Also included are renewals of previous registrations.

[someco]

Hi @buddhapi, thanks. Yes, you can use this to check that a copyright exists, that it is under Nick Youngson's name, and that it is for images. However you cannot see what specific content is included in that copyright. Multiple images may be part of the same copyright and you cannot see the actual images contained in it. Now perhaps we can assume that Higbee has a smart enough operation that he will ensure the image copyright information is correct - but IMHO (and attorneys I have consulted) it is always prudent to check whether the image in question for you is actually copyrighted. In order to get the actual images under a specific copyright registration, the copyright office gave me the procedure I listed above. Please let me know if you have found a better way. Thanks.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Hi @buddhapi, thanks. Yes, you can use this to check that a copyright exists, that it is under Nick Youngson's name, and that it is for images. However you cannot see what specific content is included in that copyright. Multiple images may be part of the same copyright and you cannot see the actual images contained in it. Now perhaps we can assume that Higbee has a smart enough operation that he will ensure the image copyright information is correct - but IMHO (and attorneys I have consulted) it is always prudent to check whether the image in question for you is actually copyrighted. In order to get the actual images under a specific copyright registration, the copyright office gave me the procedure I listed above. Please let me know if you have found a better way. Thanks.

Might I suggest you consult an attorney that is experienced in copyright law... copyright exists at the moment of creation...registration is not required to afford copyright protection, but it does afford other remedies in regards to infringement. The flaw in the copyright system, which has been spoken about for years now, is that "group registrations", that is many images registered at one time, does not include the "images" in question, so going to DC would still not yield the desired results, but you'd be out 100.00. As I stated before, it would be up to the plaintiff ( if they filed) to prove their case, and that the image(s) in question is included in the registration. You also need to realize the reason is that lawsuits are hardly ever filed is because there is no valid registration in the first place, these trolls simply want to extract money from your account, by using fear tactics..If it were me, rather than spend 100.00 for possibly no results, I would wait and if they file, I would spend a bit more to file a counter suit for a declaratory judgement..in other words I'd flip it back on them and back them into a corner..but thats just me.

[Matthew Chan]

Someco,

Spending $100 to do a blind search for a particular image is an absolute waste of time and money. How many searches will you do?  It is well known that copyright registration/listing system is woefully inadequate. But if you want to spend the time and effort, feel free to report back your results if we are wrong.

The discussion of investing $100 per search is going down a rabbit hole. I am not sure you understand how the extortion scheme works or what is being said to you. Many people who successfully fight and resist their letters use far simpler strategies than trying to comb through the copyright registration system.

And if you do corroborate the image, what do you do then?  You are betting at least $100 that the copyright registration is false.  But what if they say, it's a mistake then offer up another registration for you?  You going to spend yet another $100 for another search?

[nycopyrightabuse]

Hello, we also have ongoing situation going on. We believe what they are doing is an abuse of the copyright laws and are building a case against them and Higbee & Associates. We have full complaint details and a form to report your complaint so that we can establish a pattern of behavior. It's located in another forum thread, linked below:

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/legal-controversies-forum/nicholas-youngson-photographer-(rep-by-higbee-associates)-copyright-abuse/

Thanks in advance for everyone's help thus far - we have received many positive replies!

[someco]

Matthew and @buddhapi - thanks for your notes. Just want to close this out re. the image search.
I guess you guys see this  day in, day out so it is quite evident to you but it's not as obvious to many of us, hence the questions.
" It is well known that copyright registration/listing system is woefully inadequate." - no, I did not know this, pretty much trusted it would have accurate records. Oh well.
And " But what if they say, it's a mistake then offer up another registration for you?" - yes, I suppose they  could do this. I assumed it was "Due diligence" on my part to verify their claims. Saw that others like nycopyrightabuse are also doing this and have even asked Higbee to provide the images included in the registration, which they seem to have refused.
"I am not sure you understand how the extortion scheme works or what is being said to you. Many people who successfully fight and resist their letters use far simpler strategies than trying to comb through the copyright registration system." -
not as much as many on this forum, but I do understand it and have spoken to Matthew and Oscar about it too, in addition to speaking with copyright lawyers and litigation lawyers (dealing with it for a few months now). I have not come across any simpler strategies  than "wait it out and see if they file a lawsuit, or join Oscar's defense letter program (in my case he himself advised against it for now), or hire an attorney to send a letter and/or negotiate a settlement". If there are other strategies you have shared elsewhere on this forum, please do point me to them.
For now I have not spent the $100.
Thanks!

Someco,

Spending $100 to do a blind search for a particular image is an absolute waste of time and money. How many searches will you do?  It is well known that copyright registration/listing system is woefully inadequate. But if you want to spend the time and effort, feel free to report back your results if we are wrong.

The discussion of investing $100 per search is going down a rabbit hole. I am not sure you understand how the extortion scheme works or what is being said to you. Many people who successfully fight and resist their letters use far simpler strategies than trying to comb through the copyright registration system.

And if you do corroborate the image, what do you do then?  You are betting at least $100 that the copyright registration is false.  But what if they say, it's a mistake then offer up another registration for you?  You going to spend yet another $100 for another search?