Some MAVAns may recall that a few months ago, I posted in the FB group about a letter of demand I received (by email) from an outfit called Pixsy, alleging unauthorized use of an image on a blog attached to my website. I was to pay USD940.00 for a license or face the consequences. The allegation was that my actions had harmed the financial interests of their client - total bollocks of course. The “offending” blog was 7 years old and their client lives in the Netherlands.
I paid Arts Law Centre of Australia $200 for some legal advice on my issue, and initially I didn’t find them very helpful. Their attitude was “how would you feel if someone infringed on your copyright?”. But I persisted and eventually they became more forthcoming. Given that Pixsy is an American based licensing and copyright agency, Arts Law referred me to California Lawyers for the Arts and I ended up having a free Zoom session with one of their lawyers. He raised a very good point. “Does Pixsy really intend to clog up the US justice system with thousands of copyright cases worth only a few hundred dollars each?”
It appears that agencies such as Pixsy, PicRights and Copyright Agent are using algorithms to scan the Net looking for what they think are unauthorized use of images and then approaching the authors of those images offering their services - for a fee, no doubt. But also, some artists/photographers are trying to monetize their images by doing reverse image searches and then approaching Pixsy etc.
Recently, Arts Law published an article titled “Copyright Infringement Letter of Demand, What Should You Do If You Get One?”. They recommend that the recipient of a Letter of Demand take it seriously. Simply crediting the source of an image that you have used does not amount to permission. In addition;
“Australia allows some uses of copyright material without the permission of a copyright owner. These exceptions, or defenses, include use for the purposes of research or study, reporting the news, parody or satire, and criticism or review where that use is seen as ‘fair’. In Australia, it is not a defence to say that you were not using the work commercially, you did not realise you needed permission, or you did not make any money from using the work. ” ARTS LAW
In accordance with Arts Law advice, I made a counter offer to Pixsy which was rejected. I also informed them that I had taken the “offending” blog down, again to no avail. Pixsy was playing hardball so I decided to return the compliment. I haven’t heard from them for over 3 months now.
The recommendation is that it’s probably a good idea to seek legal advice if you receive a letter of demand. Arts Law is seeing an increase in the number of artists receiving these letters. Copyright law varies from country to country.
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