Can PicRights sue is a question that some people on the internet are wondering when they receive a letter from PicRights demanding payment for the use of a copyrighted image. PicRights is considered a copyright troll, which means that they help certain clients collect money for unauthorized use of images.
Some of their clients are Routers, AP and other photographers who are pretty well-known. The thing about PicRights is that they are a company that searches the web for images and sends out mass letters. They have so many different people that they try to go after that they’re only aiming for the smaller 10 to 20% of the people that actually respond to them. This ends up being quite profitable when you scale it.
So can PicRights sue?
That depends on the nature of the infraction and when they feel like they can get money out of you. They have been successful in some cases, but in most cases, people who ignore them often times do not face any repercussions. The initiative to sue would require them believing that they can get a winning case in court and an actual judgment against you and that you will pay that.
Often times it doesn’t make financial sense to spend time going after people when you could just go after the people who are willing to pay right away through fear. That is why the cost is so low often times they’re asking for between $500-$1500.
So if you ignore PicRights, you may still continue to get the notices and threats but the chances of you getting a lawsuit is pretty slim. If you do get a lawsuit from a national law firm that can be quite problematic, as you are required to appear in court or to answer to the demand letters which can be timely and can be quite a problem if you don’t respond.
It’s recommended to remove the image(s) from your website immediately after getting the notice from PicRights. Delete the page that the image was on, and remove the image from your website database completely. By doing this, you essentially erase the evidence of using the image and question and make them show the proof of burden on them to prove that you did have it on your website during a certain specific time.
This can be somewhat tricky, because how can they actually prove this?
They do take screenshots of your website and archive those but frankly those could be manipulated and there’s really no way to actually prove that it was on the website at specific time. The only thing I can think of that would allow them to prove this would be archive.org
You may want to check archive.org to see if the image has been archived there first before you decide to ignore one of their letters. Another thing to check out is to see if you can find out if the image in question is actually copyrighted or not. A copyrighted image has a much higher chance of winning a default against someone who uses it without licensing it properly.
So if that’s the case, she may wanna go ahead and just license the image and then respond to PicRights letting them know that you have a license for the image. This may be the quickest way to resolve the issue or you may just wanna ignore it all together.
I think paying them is definitely the last option that you may want to think about depending on what your situation is. If you need help after receiving a PicRights letter fill out the contact form located here. I’d be glad to help you out!
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I received a letter from pic rights citing several images on my blog. They accused me of copyright infringement. The volunteer who submits my blog thought the images were ok and didn’t double check. My website, internet station and blog are only a hobby. I make no money. I love music and my blog is for informational purposes. It contains music news. I have since removed the blogs and pictures. I am retired, and live on Social Security. They are asking for nearly $4,000. I don’t know what to do. I’ve contacted them but can’t meet their demands. I’m seeking for some sound advice on how to handle this matter going forward. I wanted proof of copyright registration from them and they said that the images were not registered.
Thank you. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated .
James Murphy
Hi James, I wouldn’t worry about that company. Stop engaging them and disregard there notices. Your site is not commercial and therefore they have no stance for a claim.
Does this apply to UK also?
Copyright laws in the UK can be stronger and more enforced than other places. I would consult with a UK attorney.
Even if they engage a law firm (it happens some time), only the author of the photograph can enforce the use of the images through a lawyer. Not PicRights – they have no leverage on you. They can only threaten. That’s what they do.
That’s exactly right, they often don’t have the author involved and are fishing for offers that settle easily.
Hi there, I have had a website which I was working on during my web development module at uni, the site was for educational purposes learning in my own time, I had a plugin on there called Content Pilot that had spammed my website with 100s of images and now PicRights have contacted me demanding payment opening up 7+ cases, where do I stand in this? It doesn’t help much as I have ASD and OCD plus I’m on anti depressants which screw up my thought process, I have deleted the site but cannot view any emails from them as I had mistakenly deleted the email account they have been contacted as it was wiped when I deleted the site due to them being connected, I deleted the site as it would of took too long to delete all the posts that content pilot posted.
Hi Al, I would not be worried if the website was taken down. They are mostly looking for commercial intent when going after people who use their images, so if you never commercialized the use of their images, there really isn’t a case to come after you.
Hi,
Thank you for the time and for reading our questions.
2- I also Got a letter from picrights. I have started something on my website where I collect the names of peoplee
I admire the locations I want to visit, including pictures from Google, in a grid layout like Instagram. It’s like a directory in the form of a blog. Since I got the letter, I took the blog off my website.
I am worried because I alsohave my portfolio in a different tab on the website, too, because I am a freelance photographer.
Do you think I should respond to them?
Hello Geo, thanks for reaching out. No, you do not need to respond to them. The context of your use case is non commercial and a hobby. They are just trying to threaten you and fish for anyone who is scared enough to send them payment without any actual legal requirement to do such. I hope that helps!
I’m just an individual, not a company or organization, who gave some voluntary, non profit presentations several years ago, none of which are visible at all on my website, but there are text links, just for reference.
Suddenly, emails started coming in from Picrights, demanding $250 for a small, generic image buried on page 26 in one of these presentations, which haven’t actually been seen or downloaded by anyone since the actual presentation was given to a small, non profit audience. No commercial value or compensation was ever associated with any of this. There was no copyright info associated with the image when it was put into the presentation slides.
Now they threaten to send this off to Higbee. Is this really going to warrant them going to court, over a $250 fee expected for an image not even visible on the website (obviously, this was found with an AI searchbot)? Of course, the entire presentation / link has been removed.
Hi Charles, the predatory nature of Picrights is ridiculous and they are trolling for those who bite. The best thing to do is to ignore the request, do not respond to them. They send out mass emails to many sites and are getting a small amount to respond and that’s how they get paid. They do not go after individuals using photos in non commercial ways.
Hello! The public charity/nonprofit I work for has also received an email from PicRights. They are demanding $400 for copyright infringement on a single photo. Here is the relevant information:
– The photo was of an ancient fresco, depicting a woman wearing a veil
– Only one photo from their client (Reuters) was used on our website
– The purpose was educational, it was included in an article regarding interpretations of 1 Corinthians 11
– This was a free, public article, we did not profit in any way from using this photo
– The article is over 10,000 words and is not about the photo in question
– Reuters was cited as the source and their website was linked directly below the photo
– We did not detract from Reuters traffic, we sent them traffic by citing/linking them
– We were a relatively insignificant blog, not even a 501c3 yet, when the photo was used in March of 2022
– We immediately deleted the photo off our server after receiving the email from PicRights
– At this time, we have not responded to PicRights
I am interested to know if this is most likely a case that PicRights will drop or if it would be advisable to pay $135 to have a lawyer contact them on our behalf.
Thank you so much!
Hi Natalie,
Yes, this is not a case that PicRights will pursue in my opinion. The use is non commercial and was not used to make any profit. $400 is not going to cover the legal costs for them to pursue any judgement in a case.
Hope that helps!
Hello, thank you so much for the time you are taking to write this and answer questions. I have a tiny e-commerce business, and Picrights contacted me about an ancient image from 2014 of a dress of mine on a relatively unknown actress on the red carpet. This image was buried in my press page on my website. The dress was mine, but the image was not purchased. I have since taken down the whole Press section and removed it from the site. I did write back to them, not admitting to anything, but asked them to provide a notarized letter from their client and a copy of the copyright certificate. They are asking for around 500 dollars. Interestingly, they had initially presented three images with alleged infringement to me, but they only seem to be claiming payment for one of them. I wonder why that is. Do you think my course of action so far has been correct? Are they likely to be sending me all this proof I requested? Thank you once again for all your help
Hi Michail,
In this case, you may have some claim to the copyrighted material since it is your dress, would need to consult with an IP attorney to confirm this. I know you already messaged them, but its best not to engage any further. The press section of your website was not directly responsible for any revenue generation, so that is a good thing. $500 is less than it would cost to pursue legal action to collect those funds, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that (:
Got a letter from Picright the photo is owned by Reuters it is used on my website as an image on a blog it was not used in anyway to make money. What should I do people keep saying highbee and associated will come after you then what?
Hi Niko,
As long as the photo has been removed from the website and there has not been any direct financial gain from the photo, they really can’t do much. It’s important to not engage them in any way at all. Ignore it and it will go away. They are trolling for those who engage and pay.