Dear All, I hope all is well. I have received a letter from a company claiming 4k from me becuase they spotted on my company website that i am using an image of theirs without acquiring the relevant licence. thats great isnt it? I would not have minded but my website only attracts 10-15 unique viists a day and this said picture is one of 3 which get shuffled at the top of my website every 8-10 seconds etc.. Also the image has been distorted and stretched. Obviously i have forwarded this letter to my legal guy, but i was wondering how the hell they find it anyway? is their software you can buy to search for images, cos the thing is my web designer would ah ve changed the file name. Another thing is that we are located in the UK and this image company is from ireland and they are checky enough to invocie me for VAT, when really i should be VAT exempt. So with 8k last week,that makes 12k of uneccesary expenditure in one week. ~~~~~~~~ take it ez zak
I can't give a comment that will assist because I don;t know the law but this seems very unfair. Maybe check with them that they hold the rights this could be a scam.
Remove the image and apologise. See if they take it further, I doubt they will. Could be a scam, and most genuine people issue a 'cease and desist' letter before asking for money, so it smells.
HI GUYS thank you for the input. i have faxed the letter over to my legal rep, so he will advise me on what action to take. what i was wondering was how they found the image on my website in the first place. its not as if my corporate website is even remotely popular. ~~~~~~ cheers zak
hey john i hope all is well Well not eaxctly, i am asking how i got Caught, not IF? ~~~~~~ take it ez zak
The only method i am aware of it this (link), but i really don't know how it works. http://www.digimarc.com/comm/imagebridge.asp just tell them to go scratch, they may take you to court, look for precedents .
hi john, thank you for this and the Pm too. very interesting the forum you linked was even more interwesting too. I may just bite the bullet on this one as i have not got the time to piss around with them ~~~~~~~~~~ cheers zak
Almost all criminals ask that question when they finally caught! ...LOL! What I'm more curious about than anything is ....why did you use someone else's pictures on your website? I mean, surely you knew that that was wrong, didn't you? As to how you got caught, that seems simple to me ....someone saw your website, then saw the other website, and turned you in. Which, I might add, is what makes a cohesive, peaceful society - people who care about their society and it's members. Baron Max
Maximus thank you for your input i hope all is good with you. well i knew it was wrong maximus but took the chance, thinking that as my corporate wesbiste only gets a handfull of visits a day it would not be hammered, proves i was worng, and unless my legal rep comes out with a plan of action, means i will have to cough it up As for the images i thought they were alirght so we used them and i did not have any appropriate images of the like at the time. i took the risk maximus, and i will have to pay the price it appears. Sods law if you ask me, but i have since discovered that there is software around which can search websites for images and stuff. thank goodness it is just an annopying sum of money to pay rather than a show stopper!!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~ take it ez zak
Do a thorough image search for the type of image you have been using and see if you can find any more that are not related to this company. Unless the image is a corporate logo, you can say that you simply found it on the web and decided to use it thinking that anything on the web is in the public domain and therefore legitimate to use. In the first instance you should remove the image from your website forthwith and write to the company apologising profusely and pleading ignorance. 4000 pounds sounds like an arbitrary sum that they just came up with off the top of their heads, but based on what exactly? Is it a licence fee for the image? Is it the profits they've lost from your use of it? Is it simply a fine they deem fit to charge you with?
Thanks tab, the images are down now and i will find some equavilanet, untill i can get some reall good ones. It was actually for 2 images and my legal guy has told me that i have to carry the can on this one. Shit happens!!! thanks for your advice ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Take it ez zak
