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« on: September 21, 2011, 12:03:17 PM »
Hello all,
Any advice would be helpful on this. I am going to try and throw out as much info as possible, so if anyone has specific questions that might clarify the situation...please let me know. I will check this board regularly.
1. May/2011 received 'standard' letter from masterfile. 1 small image on a secondary page of personally owned(and developed), small business commercial website. Their 'settlement offer' was about $4,500.
2. June/2011 received email from them rescinding 'retroactive license' offer. Demanding payment in full. Sent email to Oscar on June 11th. He responded that he would follow up the following Monday. I didn't receive the follow-up so I continued to wait.
3. August/2011 received letter from NCS collections. "Demanding" the settlement of the original offer of $4,500. Emailed Oscar again explaining the escalated situation, and requesting his services. I offered payment to him for writing a letter to masterfile. I haven't heard back from him at this point. I also left a voice mail for him this same day. (I apologized for trying to use different ways to track him down, but I had no idea if my emails were going to spam or something at that point...so I thought 'sitting and waiting' to hear from someone that doesn't know you exist...might not be my best option.)
4. Sept/2011 received another letter from NCS demanding original settlement amount. Also received a 1st email from NCS offering to discuss settlement at a "discount rate" if I act immediately.
Side notes:
1. Masterfile is claiming use of the one image on 2 of my websites, but one of them is simply domain forwarding (where you type in the www address and it brings you to another site). Does this change anything? Meaning would it be seen as only 1 "infringement" if it were indeed infringed on at all?
2. The image in question is about 58KB. The 'original' that masterfile claims ownership to on their site is about 800KB
3. The image in question was removed immediately upon receipt of initial letter.
4. The image in question was altered in some way apparently. Half of the picture is the image they claim ownership of, the other half is related to my business. (Its an odd question..but...is it now only infringement on 50% of 1 image?)
5. I originally found the image in question in a google search, and then used it.
6. I have made no contact with masterfile or NCS.
7. I talked to an attorney in Canada at some point during this (after unable to contact Oscar). He said masterfile usually will settle for about $800, and he could write a letter for me if I need, at the price of about $300.
8. I talked to my insurance agent about this. They need more info from me to make final decision. ( I am scared my rates will skyrocket if I get them involved.) He said there may be coverage for this on my policy depending on a number of factors. (When I started using the photo (before or after the policy went into existence), how long you used it and where you got it originally) FYI...my policy was in effect long before the site went up.
Have I left anything out that anyone would find pertinent?
Thanks so much!
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