Please help. I have received an email that has stated that I am violating a copywrite and that they are going to press charges. They didn't even give me a chance to remove the questionable item from my site before they contacted the yahoo legal dept (I host a yahoo store). I was using one of their pictures to sell a dress style that I bought from them. I used to buy from them wholesale and at that time I was given verbal permission to use the picture on my website. (This was about 2 years ago) to help sell their items in my store. now that I am no longer a wholesale customer of theirs they pull this. I truly believe it is because now I am a serious competitor of theirs instead of a customer. But I am very scared. Am I screwed just like that? What can I do? I removed the picture as soon as I received the email, but is it too late?
I would just find another pic and replace it. this would be the fastest way to take care of this situation. Good luck...
An email, or even an ugly lawyer letter doesn't mean anything. While it is true (in the USA) that you can be sued by anyone at any time, it is not as simple as sending an email. There is a process involving formal notice, a chance to respond etc. required to begin a lawsuit. "Press charges" is something that would apply in a criminal case, not civil (which is what a copyright violation is). The only reason I can see to use the phrase in this situation is to scare you. Since it did scare you, I would suggest reading some books on how lawsuits work (Nolo Press has one on what to do if you are sued.) or paying for an hour of attorney time to learn exactly what risks being in business for yourself entails.
Yahoo! will ban a site on just an email. So he should worry. You can, if you have the funds, sue for anything. Welcome to the united coporations of american. But I must add, they have a solid case with the pic there. He no longer buys from them and is a competitor. Replace the pic and move on as you have and don't worry.
People can sue you over anything. You certainly have an arguable case with a verbal agreement, which verbal agreements are valid in the State of Mass. The problem that this will cause you is more from the Yahoo perspective - how will they deal with this problem? Could your site be penalized or removed because of this dispute? Perhaps. You do have libel issues worth researching if their claim has no basis - depending on the wording of their complaint to Yahoo. I would imagine that Yahoo would either need a series of complaints or a very obvious and undisputed copyright violation claim to take action, but you never know.
HERE IS THE EMAIL THAT WAS SENT TO ME. HE ALSO LEFT A PHONE MESSAGE AND MENTIONED SEVERAL TIMES THAT I SHOULD CALL HIM IF I WANTED TO SETTLE OUTSIDE OF COURT. SOUNDS TO ME LIKE HE IS LOOKING FOR MONEY. IN THE VOICEMAIL HE STATES THAT THE LAWSUITS WILL BE FILED NO MATTER WHAT, EVEN IF I COMPLY TO HIS REQUEST OF REMOVING THE PICTURE. i HAVE A HARD TIME BELIEVING THAT ANYONE CAN REQUEST A SITE BE BROUGHT DOWN JUST LIKE THAT WITHOUT SOME KIND OF INVESTIGATION, OTHERWISE, I COULD BRIND DOWN ALL OF MY COMPETITION WITH A SINGLE EMAIL. THAT JUST DOESN'T SOUND RIGHT TO ME. Hi, One of the picture you are using is from our catalogue and site, please remove the picture immediately, you are in copyright violation. You will be involved in 2 lawsuits, one from our company and another from the model (you do not have a release letter from her), I would appreciate if you can consult your attorney so can advise you better. If there is no response within 24 hrs lawsuit will be filed in Los Angles, and yahoo will be additional defender and more likely with our prior experience your hosting company will take you down as soon as the case if filed, ie your website will be pulled off with a week. You are looking at Attorney fee + damages + punitive damages. PLEASE CALL MY CELL PHONE 909-456-5551 TO ADVISE WHAT ACTION YOU ARE TAKING Thanking You Sincerely, CC yahoo: PLEASE TAKE THIS DOMAIN DOWN AS THERE IS A SERIOUS COPYRIGHT VIOLATION, PLEASE REFER THIS TO YOUR LEGAL DEPARTMENT AND LOOK FOR OUR COURT RECORDS, WE HAD SUCCESSFULLY PROCUTED 18 CASES IN LAST 4 YEARS, IN 3 CASES YAHOO WAS THE CO-DEFENDANT. C.C BOB CROKER- FOR FILING
Reply that even though there had been a verbal OK on the useage, you have taken the image down. Instruct them that any and all correspondence can be forwarded to your leagal department so that any conversations may be archived. If you dont have a lawyer, just give them your address and use "Legal Dept." as the name. Really sounds like they just have a loud bark from the style of writing and use of caps. Why would he give a cell phone number? You would think they would want this to the legal dept to track the action.
OK... a couple of things. In California, it is illegal to threaten legal action without a bona fide intent to do so. So if he doesn't file suit as stated in the letter, he is in violation of state law. Second, this letter was not sent from an attorney. This is more like an enflamed message board posting and as such I would give it very little credence. Third, there is nothing specific in your version as to what the copyright violation was, no DMCA citation, and no claim that the letter writer is the owner of the copyright. Fourth, this joker is certainly in no position to act on behalf of the model, and if it were a professional model, he is in trouble for giving you a verbal in the first place without having a release agreement in place. Fifth, attorneys fees are only granted in certain situations and only if the violated law specifies such as a remedy. Sixth, there is no claim as to the amount of damages he is seeking, and no justification for those damages. Seventh, punitive damages are only awarded in certain situations, if the applicable law contains clauses for punitive damages, and if the judge deems them appropriate. and eighth, the 909 area code is Riverside County, CA, not Los Angeles County. I live near this joker. Want me to go pee on him for you? ninth, this looks like an e-mail. A 24 hour demand for a response from an e-mail? Yeah right. That's all for now, but I bet there are at least 10 more points to bring up. And... ease up on the caps lock
"OK... a couple of things. In California, it is illegal to threaten legal action without a bona fide intent to do so. So if he doesn't file suit as stated in the letter, he is in violation of state law." I belive you would have to prove he didn't have a "bona fide intent" (at the time he sent the email) to file a lawsuit - which is virtually impossible. Not filing isn't proof or illegal as he can claim he changed the situation changed. I think he could sue and win, but damages would depend on the amount of the damages he could prove (if any) - which really goes to how large of business you have. I wouldn't contact the person. I think it is reasonable to assume any verbal permission to use the picture expired when they stopped doing business. There was no consideration being provided after that point. While normal civil actions do not allow for attorney fees without a written contract, Section 505 of the Copyright Act does allow for award of attorney fees to the prevailing party in certain circumstances. As stated, it is common for the model to retain ownership - so this person may indeed not be able to sue. As the picture has been taken down, you can either do nothing- which I think in the majority of cases nothing will happen, or you should consult an attorney. If you run a business with sizable revenue, I would certainly get an attorney as this opens the door for provable damages.
I know people who send out these emails just to threaten. I also know people who do sue for copyright violations. Chances are that he is just threatening you, so don't worry too much at this time. Just make sure this doesn't happen again. I would just apologize (a sincere one) and assure him personally it doesn't happen ever again. Maybe consult a lawyer, if it will let you sleep better at night. Best Regards, Surfup EDIT: Just saw the actual email. Clearly he is no lawyer. As people have pointed out already, it is way too vague and unprofessional to be considered a lawyer's notice. Not only that he just inserted a Bob there. If it was from on a real one, there would be more than just 'for filing.'
I would have expected that the email would mention the exact image that was being referrenced. I know as a hosting company, if an email like this was cc'd to us. Firstly we would take it seriously and pass it to our legal dept. They I'd guess would send a rather sharp letter to the sender demanding exactly what they are talking about. I know of no legal team that would allow a threatening email like that to ever be sent. Legal documents (including cease and desist) are normally sent via letter unless you digitally sign it and it can be proved that the email was actually sent by the person it says it was. Personally, I'd send an email back saying that the image (make sure you name the actual image) has been removed, explain that you had verbal permission to use the image (mention the name of the person who gave you the permission) and assumed (perhaps wrongly) that the model had given permission to them to release the image for use. Also, more often than not, it isn't unusual for the photographer to hold copyright - not the model.
That letter was quite lame, IMO, I think the guy is just trying to scare you and trying to get some money out of you. I would almost bet that he is braking the law himself with that kind of demand. I am thinking mafia stye here, lots of big threats, next he will send someone to see you.
Thats what I want to hear. I haven't heard a thing from him or yahoo so I think i am ok. I have gone back to all my venders to get in writting that I am able to use their pics now.
Don't post a letter or specifics like that in forums in the future. You don't know for sure what's behind this bozo and if he (or his minions) stumble on this thread via search he's going to know exactly what you are planning to do. I personally think the advice you've gotten so far is pretty good. Remember, always do the right thing. If he's serious and has legal representation his law firm will send a certified letter and that's when you need to take it serious. -jay
"PROCUTED"----excuse my ignorance...but is that olde English?---- Its not in my dictionary...(real life) google only has "of about 346 for PROCUTED"---- its fairly obvious what it means...but um...
I'm no leagle eagle - but it doesn't take a genius to realise that the correspondence is bogus. Replace the picture and ignore the idiots. Better yet, initiate action against them. Cheers, JL
Ignore the guy and anything he sends you. You have rights as well. Nevets outlined it all pretty well so I will just say I agree with him. Also the person does say that no matter what you do he will sue you...basically that's a clear violation of California Law. You can't use lawsuits as a threat since it can intimidate people into doing stupid things. I believe you have some counter claims against them if he ever does sue.
My oppinion is that it's some sort of agressive nigerian 419 scam...their grammer is even more terrible then mine in some cases An attorney or other sort of legal entity would for sure not make such bad letters. Ignore them! The sender is a scammer trying to make you pay in the end to let you think you are or will be let of the hook. For fun just ask them their full credentials and verify it with some kind of attorney association where attorneys have to be a member of...every country has such a member database. You will see they can not provide you with anything and if they do provide credentials that match with some sort of database, call the attorney office in question and you would see they know nothing about this. This reads scam all over the place!