Picrights.com copyright claim escalation. Any IP lawyers?

[mr shifty]

Two weeks ago, my company received a letter from picrights.com saying they were acting on behalf of PA Images and that there were two images on our website which they believed we didn't have a license to use.

They demanded to see a copy of our license or else pay £400 to settle the matter, with the amount being based on what would have been the license fee for using those images, setting a deadline of 14th July 2019.

We've since exchanged a number of emails about the matter, and one phone call in which their own member of staff mentioned that there was a 6 year limitation for a claim to be made. This is pertinent because the images are attached to obscure blog posts dated 2011 and 2013.

To cut a long story short, despite not agreeing that we have done anything wrong I decided to make a counter offer of £90, which is the amount it would cost to license one of the images for 5 years according to the pricing displayed on the PA Images website currently.

Picrights.com responded summarily today saying that they reject my offer, have rescinded their original offer so that it no longer stands and would be instructing lawyers.

So... I haven't refused to pay, but they haven't come back with a counter-offer or stating that the original fee is the minimum they would settle for, instead opting to escalate the matter when I've been responsive and relatively helpful in a situation which basically presents as extortion.

Sounds like typical scare tactics, but I've got a lot on my plate and I don't want to have this hanging over me.

What should I do?

[GlenMH]

For 400 quid? Really?

Wait for a while. They will come back with a lower offer. Have a google for the tactics employed by Pixsy.

My understanding is that provided you have taken down the images promptly and made a realistic counter offer so have acted in good faith, then getting a court to award more will be very hard work. It is in their interest to settle.

I managed to get a similar demand down from €1100 to £150 by waiting and whenever they contacted me, reiterating my offer.

[mr shifty]

Thanks for this. Interesting reading on Reddit about Pixsy - there's relatively little info about picrights.com but it sounds very similar.

Tbh £400 is not a lot of money and I'd have settled had the approach not come out of the blue, and in relation to content which I had no knowledge of from a time when the company was under different ownership. In the course of trying to understand whether I was indeed liable for anything (I'm not a legal expert, I'm a small business owner) and then to work out if they'd used the right details to establish what the appropriate license would have cost they just cut the conversation dead.

I assume they just expect I'll settle out of fright now to avoid paying costs.

[DSLiverpool]

Getty are similar, don’t worry they will settle eventually.
Always good to do an image search to check rights.

[mr shifty]

In case anyone else is hit with a similar letter and stumbles across this thread, here's the bottom line.

I took advice on this and was basically told although it was unlikely we'd be pursued for this given the small amount, if it ever did end up in court we'd be on the hook because copyright infringement of this type is a strict liability, meaning we either did or didn't do it - there's no mitigation or leeway - and given that I accept the site was indeed hosting the image, and that we don't have a license, then I'd probably have to pay up. And that £400 wasn't an unreasonable amount to seek given that that's roughly what a license would have cost in the first place, so it was unlikely we'd end up paying less, and could be on the hook for costs.

I sat on it for a couple of weeks hoping they'd get back in touch, but when they didn't I rang them. The guy I talked to on the phone was fairly reasonable and it didn't come across as a cowboy outfit looking to shake people down. After a long discussion it was clear that there wasn't any chance of them letting it slide (Picrights probably only get paid if they get people to settle so they've no leeway if they want to make money) and no room for movement on the settlement fee.

For the sake of £400 I ended up just settling.

[GlenMH]

mr shifty said:

And that £400 wasn't an unreasonable amount to seek given that that's roughly what a license would have cost in the first place, so it was unlikely we'd end up paying less, and could be on the hook for costs.

For clarity - my situation was a bit different: the licensing cost would have been zero provided that the attribution on publication was correct. Unfortunately it wasn't, which is why Pixsy got involved. I think it is why I managed to get a big reduction in the sum agreed.