Copyright Exortation

Is that picture or graphic you pulled up on the Internet or off that CD-Rom really allowed to be used on your website or blog?  There is a whole new nasty way some companies are going about making money and coming after small businesses and private people.  It is in my mind Legalized Extortion that they are allowed to do because of our outdated Copyright Registration federal laws.   What is this all about, I’ll tell you below.  I in no way am saying it is right taking a picture and not paying for the use of it or finding a truly free picture to use.

There are Stock Photo Companies that are out there Like Getty Images, MasterFile, Hawaiian Art Network and others that have a company Picscout ( www.picscout ) scan the internet looking for images and then comparing them to their own databases.  Picscout boasts that they “instantly IDs images on the web, providing creative professionals with image information and a one-click connection to image licensors. Users of the add-on use search engines like Google and Yahoo Images to ID images from more than 150 stock agencies and photographers.”   How do they do this you ask?  They are located in Israel were it is legal to go out and scan the internet sucking down all the graphics from any website they come across and go as deep as they can searching and using up bandwidths of the site.  Picscout does not follow robots.txt file that give or denies permissions to people using the website much like hacking a site .  They then compare the pics against the databases of their customers to search for a match.  They will match on the smallest percent that they can.  Once a match is found they turn it over to the Stock Image Company.

The Stock Image Company will then print out a demand letter to the Website Company/Person with a small screen shot and large bill for the use of the image.  There are problems with this they assume you are guilty right away and inflate the cost of the picture.  MasterFile recently sent out a letter demanding $12,000 per image for 4 images and $8,000 for the 5th image ( http://www.scribd.com/doc/104529865/Masterfile-12K-per-image-Settlement-Demand-Letter ).   The Stock Image Companies does not supply information like:

1 – Copyright Registration of the image in question.

2 – Signed paperwork from the artist transferring its copyright to Getty.

3 – The formula used to determine the settlement demand.

4 – Sales records, including all fees, of the image.

5 – The exact day the alleged infringement started.

Just a bill.  The problem lies with the Copyright Registration in which these companies MAY submit thousands of pictures from various artist and claim Copyright.  But some have been proven not to be even registered.    They will not provide any proof and state they only provide that during discovery (A Lawsuit against you).  They keep pestering you for payment and will even go and send it to collection agencies or Attorneys for collection and in some cases even going to Federal Court to sue.  They have 3 years from discovery to come after you so it can be a long haul.  If you do receive a letter it is best not to just throw it away but to act on and first remove the picture if you are not 100% sure and then start researching the picture.  What is it really worth?  Do other sites or stock photo companies have the picture?  You can use tools like images.google.com to upload the image and then search to see what you find.  Don’t cave in to the fear and threats of the letter.  They make it sound like a criminal case and that you will go to jail, but really it is a Civil Case.  There are many helpful sites out there or legal sources to contact to help you along.  Look into your elected officials and demand changes in this new digital world.

What are ways to avoid this problem?  Always know where the picture came from and pay the license fee if needed.  If you have a third party do your site for you, insist on all the licenses of the photos they may use (stock companies could care less if another company did it they want your money).  You may even use Uncle Sam as a good source.  Government works are not copyrightable as they belong to the public. So you can go to usa.gov and search the Graphics page for excellent pictures on a variety of topics. There is a site that provides links to several government sites that have free photos for download: http://www.dotgovwatch.com/index.php?/archives/8-The-Best-Copyright-Free-Photo-Libraries.html.  Or the best is to take your own Photos.  Above all else keep good records as to where and for how long you may use the Picture and delete them when they are no longer needed.  Add Firewall rules to your site blocking countries or internet agents from accessing your site.

So not sure where your photos came from?  Now is the time to check and replace as needed before that letter may arrive.

Some site of interest:

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/

http://copyright-trolls.com/site/

http://dietrolldie.com/

Image source: FreeDigitalPhotos.net