Copyright Aid

Hi there,

I hope this post is ok as I've seen similar situations talked about on here before and don't want to go over old ground.

I run/own a website and received an email from PicRights yesterday saying I had used a copyrighted image without a license. They're asking I remove the image (which I have done) and pay them unauthorised past usage compensation.

The image in question I took from a different website and gave credit to, with a link back to it, but doing further research it does seem to be owned by the organisation they claim to be representing - dpa picture alliance.

So my first question is simple - am I liable and should I pay? That might be hard to answer if you can't offer legal advice though!

But if so, is the amount they're asking for legit? They want £123, which seems excessive. The image and license is available to buy for a one off fee of £15 from Alamy.com, a you can see here - https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-der-b ... archtype=0 - and has only been on my website for 5-6 months. So they want almost 9 times the amount of the license.

If I could negotiate it down to £20/30 I'd probably just pay it to avoid any hassle. But then it seems like such a small amount for them to bother with.

Aside from removing the image from my website I've not replied or communicated with PicRights yet.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

The amount that the copyright owner would be entitled to by way of damages awarded by a court is what he has lost by you not obtaining the correct licence. Since that licence would appear to cost £15, asking for £123 is excessive. However PicRights business model only works if they PicRights, the picture agency which represents the photographer, and the photographer all get a reasonable cut from fleecing people they claim have infringed the copyright in the image. The deal is quite simple, if you pay the full amount they leave you alone and laugh all the way to the proverbial bank. If you make a counter-offer which doesn't meet their expectations they ignore whatever you have said and keep hounding you with empty theats, knowing that the economics of the process means that they can't take you to court because it would cost them more than they could possibly gain.
Many people just pay up to make the problem go away, and because they do, PicRights stays in business and goes after another mug.