Copyright infringement - Letter to pay

martindow

How can you check that an organisation claiming copyright is genuine? Unless I could check their validity I would be very worried about paying anything in response to a cold-calling email from an unknown business.

Fallen-Angel

martindow wrote: »

How can you check that an organisation claiming copyright is genuine? Unless I could check their validity I would be very worried about paying anything in response to a cold-calling email from an unknown business.

I suppose OP could challenge them to prove that they own the copyright to the image - they should have information as to when the image was taken and by who.

OP could also play dumb, explaining that they honestly didn't realise they were doing anything wrong and ask if they can just take the image down but chances are they'll not budge. The image has been used to make money (attract customers to the cafe) so what they're wanting is compensation for their work being used this way.

springdreams

The OP should seek advice from an Intellectual Property attorney, who specialise in these type of problems. Most offer a free initial consultation.

The OP seems to have disappeared though, after posting the initial query ...

c-m

Quickest way to make it go away is to negotiate a price with them, then pay up.