I was using the API feed to enhance the content on my site and received a straight lawsuit asking for $XX,XXX in damages from 3 photos that received a total of 19 unique pages views. Not even a C&D letter/email. The other problem is that every photo was in a CSS div where the bottom was cut off if the image was to tall. So, a number of categories didn't have any portion of the image cutoff and a very small amount did because they didn't fit into the space provided. What is the legal right the photographer has to the images if he or she uploads them to a site like last.fm?
Exactly what contentboss said, He's rattled your cage which is what he wanted to happen , take them down and leave it at that. If you want login to your webmaster tools account and request those URL's to be removed from the index to stop him from getting the cached version as proof ( if he hasnt already ) and then dont even respond to the email. If he continue to hound you just get your solicitor to write him a nice formal letter. With what you have said that its brought in 19 unique visitors and no revenue it would cost him more to take you to court than he would get if he won.
First, if was sued as he said, simply ignoring the issue is the worst thing he could do as a default judgment could be entered against him. Second, there are substantial statutory damages available for copyright infringement that could total hundreds of thousands of dollars regardless of the fact that he claims only 19 visitors saw the page. Before advising him to simply not respond, it would be crucial to understand if he has already been sued as he seemed to indicate. If he has, the time for not responding is long passed and advising him to do so is foolish. I don't know about last.fm or their particular terms and conditions but there us a good chance you or the person suing you will want to make them a party to the action, if it gets that far, so you can possibly have a party with an insurance policy in the mix.
I was assuming the letter was from the owner of the original site not an actual legal letter, I misread the OP my bad. One thing that made me think that is the fact there hasnt been any kind of C & D , for a couple of photo's this would be over kill to say the least and would make me smell a rat instantly . Im not sure how things happen over the pond but there would be procedure to follow and take down notices served prior to anything happening here in the UK. Thats what im basing my opinion on
Most times you will get a C&D, but I have also seen people sued with no notice and no warning, that is why I was trying to get him to tell us if it was actual lawsuit or just legal or other letter. Anything short of a lawsuit, usually I would agree to just remove the content and hope for the best.
browntwn is right - well spotted. We don't know what country the parties are in, where the suit was server, what legal agreements exist between the countries etc etc. All we do know is that if the suit is already in progress, ignoring it would be foolish. He hasn't come back on the post yet, so presumably he has resolved it. Or has been sued to b*ggery, and is now too poor to afford an internet connection.
If it's a lawsuit then you should be getting served the papers directly to you. At the very least, a letter in the mail. Anything less than that is probably bogus and not even filed yet.
You can be served via email in Federal Court in some circumstances so do not just assume you will get a letter or personal service in order for a lawsuit to be valid.