Higbee & Assoc. Lists RM Media Ltd in Nick Youngson Template Lawsuit

[Yuba]

Hi. I'm new to this forum.  About 2 months ago I received a Higbee demand letter accusing me of copyright infringement.  The photo was a free license.  I accidentally did not list Youngston's attributes with the photo.  I thought they would go away, and I threatened to file an ethics grievance for unauthorized practice of law because I'm in New Jersey and the attorney who wrote the letter is not admitted as a NJ lawyer.

But last week I received one of these template lawsuits captioned for the District of NJ with the media company as the plaintiff.  Interestingly, this demand letter with complaint reads as if it's their first demand notice to me.  They seemingly have so many cases filed that they forgot about the first letter they sent to me which included a demand for $7.5k.  The lawsuit letter now demands $5.8k.

I looked up the photo in the copyright office and it's registered to Youngston individually, yet the plaintiff named in this un-filed lawsuit is the media company.  The copyright statute says there is a minimum $200 statutory penalty for innocent infringement.  I took the photo down within 10 minutes of receiving the first letter 2 months ago.  I wasn't even aware that the attributes had not been inserted with the photo.  Totally innocent mistake on my part.  Yet these jerks are all over me.  I'm tempted to send them back a draft of an ethics complaint that I will file in California if they don't back off. 

I am so pissed off at this trolling law firm.  You can't even make an innocent mistake without this law firm using the "I gotcha approach" and trying to extort money out of people.  I'm not going to allow these jerks to intimidate me, and am inclined to fight any lawsuit should they actually file it.  They proclaim to have an office in New Jersey but it's a virtual office.  I can't imagine Youngston traveling from the UK to attend a deposition in New Jersey.  Thoughts anyone?  Should I hold firm? 

[icepick]

If you want to file the ethics complaint, you should do so without making a quid pro quo with his claims against you. If you make it obvious, that gives him an easy and believable defense to the ethics complaints: "they only filed this to get leverage on me." The ethics complaint won't automatically end his case against you, but it may make him reconsider how much he wants to push you if he starts to feel some pain.

Here is the compiled info on Bar complaint procedures for states Higbee was licensed in, not sure if NJ was on the list at the time. http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/if-you-want-to-file-a-complaint-against-higbee/

[Yuba]

Thanks Ice.  This is a game of chicken. He served me with a draft Complaint, and I responded by serving him with one. Two can play at this game.  Before sending my Complaint I discovered that no one from his office is currently licensed to practice law in my state. His wife was, but she has been ruled administratively ineligible.  So that means he sent me a Complaint that he cannot possibly file because no one from his office can prosecute it.

[icepick]

lol, his wife is administratively ineligible now? When did that happen? I'm guessing she didn't pay her dues or meet some other annual requirement to keep practicing. They run a tight ship over there.

[higgy]

FYI Everyone - Higbee has started filing lawsuits on behalf of RM Media
The case was filed on November 27, 2017 in the Central District of California.
Case No 2:17-cv-08577-R-JC RM Media Ltd. v. 420 Evaluations, Inc., et al

Of note in the complaint, the Defendant never removed the images from their website, even after the initial cease and desist letters. So it is possible they are filing suits against companies that don't remove the images and not yet against companies that do.

[clist]

lol "Higgy". 

I'm not surprised by this as 420 Evaluations is located in Higgy's, I mean higbee's backyard.. Making them the lowest hanging fruit on the tree...

I smell a settlement in the air... or is it something else...?   

[Matthew Chan]

I was alerted the new development 2 weeks ago but haven't had time to publicly comment on it yet. But I will in more depth later.

For now, there is not much to get excited about.  It is just ONE lawsuit and it appears to be a special circumstance. There is nothing to indicated a rash of new lawsuits for the vast majority of people.

FYI Everyone - Higbee has started filing lawsuits on behalf of RM Media
The case was filed on November 27, 2017 in the Central District of California.
Case No 2:17-cv-08577-R-JC RM Media Ltd. v. 420 Evaluations, Inc., et al

Of note in the complaint, the Defendant never removed the images from their website, even after the initial cease and desist letters. So it is possible they are filing suits against companies that don't remove the images and not yet against companies that do.

[higgy]

Yeah, I agree. Going to try to remember to check Pacer in the next couple weeks to see how they respond or if the case gets settled and will post an update here.

[glrubens]

They got me for 2 images I had on my consulting website.  Initially, they wanted $8,600 to settle (they initially tried to scare me with the $30,000 to $150,000 for intentional infringement) but I pled poverty and got away with minimal expense.  It probably would have cost more to shut down the LLC and fight with them over the unintentional lack of attribution as I took these images directly from Google searching for public use images.  I never even went to the creative-commons-images.com website, so I never saw the warning.  No, I didn't have the liability insurance since I have no active clients.

I'm now the proud owner of licenses for these images (which I'll never use).  Wonderful ......?

[Matthew Chan]

It was settled today. The case is closed.

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6244392/rm-media-ltd-v-420-evaluations-inc/

Yeah, I agree. Going to try to remember to check Pacer in the next couple weeks to see how they respond or if the case gets settled and will post an update here.

[icepick]

Might be old news but didn’t see it mentioned elsewhere, looks like Youngson & RM have gotten other people involved. No idea who they are or if they are also in England. http://rmmedia.ltd.uk

[Matthew Chan]

Very interesting indeed. It looks like the disgusting Nick Youngson Honey Pot scheme will continue to expand and ensnare more victims.

Might be old news but didn’t see it mentioned elsewhere, looks like Youngson & RM have gotten other people involved. No idea who they are or if they are also in England. http://rmmedia.ltd.uk

[clist]

Very interesting indeed. It looks like the disgusting Nick Youngson Honey Pot scheme will continue to expand and ensnare more victims.

..I recently visited one of his websites and immediately noticed that it had been "updated" and now displays the attribution requirement at the top of the page... 

While this change will probably mean less bees being trapped in the honeypot, as long as his images are still ranking in Google for "Creative commons images", there will be more victims...

 
 

[UnfairlyTargeted]

Has anyone created a Ripoff Report for this guy?  I'd recommend anyone contacted by an individual photographer troll create one.  It hurts them right on their bottom line.  It's amazing how quickly they back off when their business is ruined by some horrible reviews of their photography business right at the top of their Google results.

[Matthew Chan]

I know you mean well but I strong recommend AGAINST posting anything on the Ripoff Report. The reason why is that many people in a fit of anger and frustration have made some ill-advised posts on ROR.  ROR has a relentless policy to not remove anything.There have been many people with "writers remorse" on ROR.

If people have something honest to say in good faith, I believe posting on the ELI Forums is the best and safest place.  You can retract or edit your statement if you want or need to. 

People look out for each other here. On ROR, you have no idea what you might get yourself into.

Has anyone created a Ripoff Report for this guy?  I'd recommend anyone contacted by an individual photographer troll create one.  It hurts them right on their bottom line.  It's amazing how quickly they back off when their business is ruined by some horrible reviews of their photography business right at the top of their Google results.