(Urgent) PIXSY email demanding fee for so called "unlicensed use of images"

[Jack Harmon]

(Your prompt reply is highly appreciated.)

Hello everyone!


A year ago, I bought a small company in Tokyo, and last month I got an email from a company called (PIXSY) claiming ($750) for what they called "unlicensed use of images.".
In there email, they attached a PDF file containing the image they referred beside other detailed information. When I checked, I found it was an image posted by a freelance designer, who was temporarily hired by the previous owner of the company. When I checked with the previous owner, he said he tried to get in touch with the freelancer but couldn't reach him.
So, the whole thing was unwitting. I deleted it the image immediately.


I did some research, and I found that Pixsy has been sending these kinds of emails to different people across the world over the past 5-6 years.
The problem is that I couldn't find any clear answer as to whether I should pay them or not, or how the previous similar cases ended.

I've got three emails from them so far, and the deadline is in a couple of days.

So, should I just ignore them? or ask for a discount?
Or should I reach out to the photographer directly and explain the situation?
or what should I do.

Please help!

[atticus]

Here's a thread you can read: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...r-a-pixsy-case

[Jack Harmon]

Thank you very much, atticus for sharing the thread. I really appreciate it.
It still did not answer my questions, though.

I need to know how similar cases ended up, to know what my next step should be.

Any advice is highly appreciated.

[Jack Harmon]

Can you help, please?

sdavies1
echat11
R0b
atticus
Celestine
Ping922

[atticus]

Are you in the UK?

EDIT TO ADD More stuff to read: https://www.google.com/search?q=pixs...&ie=UTF-8#ip=1

[Ping922]

Can you help, please?

sdavies1
echat11
R0b
atticus
Celestine
Ping922

Hi Jack,

I am sorry to hear this and I know from personal experience just how worrying it is when it happens.

I paid £650 in the end as It cost me so much time to deal with it. I even contacted the photographer but he said it was out his hands. I was just fed up and frustrated by the threatened emails from them. If there is petition to stop this I would support it; it feels an immoral targeting of small businesses.

[Jack Harmon]

Ping922

I am sorry to hear that!
It is indeed! Very frustrating

[Jack Harmon]

Are you in the UK?

EDIT TO ADD More stuff to read: https://www.google.com/search?q=pixs...&ie=UTF-8#ip=1

Thanks for sharing.
I am based in Tokyo, Japan, in which they claim they have a representative office.

[atticus]

Are you aware that this is a UK law discussion forum? Presumably any case will be brought before a Japanese court.

[echat11]

So what you are saying, is that you bought a company, the former freelance designer placed the image on the website of the company you bought. When you were made aware, you deleted it.
Pixsy people are chasing you for using the image, when you knew nothing about it, is that it in a 'nutshell'?

[Jack Harmon]

Are you aware that this is a UK law discussion forum? Presumably any case will be brought before a Japanese court.

Yes, but they are contacting me from USA, as their emails suggest.

[Jack Harmon]

So what you are saying, is that you bought a company, the former freelance designer placed the image on the website of the company you bought. When you were made aware, you deleted it.
Pixsy people are chasing you for using the image, when you knew nothing about it, is that it in a 'nutshell'?

Yes, that is right.

[atticus]

I have taken a look at Pixsy, and signed up for the service it provides photographers. If Pixsy is pursuing your company, it is because the photographer has asked them to.

I can understand photographers' unhappiness at their work being taken without their knowledge or payment and being used for commercial purposes. Just because an image can be downloaded from the web does not make it free to use.

I understand that this situation is not the OP's responsibility. He can check whether the designer signed any agreement undertaking that there would be be no infringement of IP rights; perhaps his company can seek indemnity from him or her.

[R0b]

The story so far is riddled with unanswered questions such that I would be telling Pixsy where to go and not paying them a penny until they have proven that their client actually has a valid claim (even then I might call their bluff).

Here are my issues (and there are probably more than this):

1. The freelance designer hired the photographer, presumably under a contractual arrangement to take certain image(s). What is not clear is whether that contractual arrangement transferred copyright ownership from the photographer to the freelance designer. In many countries, the starting point is that the creator of any works is the owner unless otherwise agreed. The freelance designer needs to prove ownership because without it, the freelance designer may only have a licence to use the image. No proof of ownership = no claim.

2. Despite you living in Japan, you haven't mentioned what law governed the use of the image and where you sourced it from. The reason I mention this is that if the law governing the use of the licence was not Japan, then any legal action would become very, very costly, because a Japanese court may want to have any contractual terms translated into local language, legal experts may need to be hired to explain contract and intellectual property laws relating to that country and then there's the question of whether or not the courts of Japan are best placed to determine a dispute based on foreign law. There is also the added problem for the freelance designer who may not have the financial means to pursue something that I consider to be of low value.

3. I would want Pixys to explain how they have arrived at the $750 compensatory amount. Does this cover the licence fee only and if so, consider whether this amount is higher than the usual licence fee. If so, why? I suspect it might include added admin or recovery fees that Pixsy spend chasing these licence fees from people allegedly using images without a licence. Otherwise, I would argue that the freelance designer's real loss is merely the licence fee, whatever that is. You may want to then consider paying a fee for the use of that image moving forward, and complying with any terms associated with it. For example, some licences require you to name the owner of the images but others do not.

Whether you choose to pay them any sum of money or nothing at all is entirely up to you, but my gut instinct tells me that the amount of legal proceedings Pixys issue against someone for breach of copyright or other intellectual property infringements are slim, even more so when those people are in a different country to the owner.

[atticus]

I had the impression that the freelance designer is not the photographer.

If they are the same person, then the OP can say that he/she was paid by his company - hopefully he has the invoice or other evidence.

If they are not the same person, then there may have been an infringement of the photographer's copyright.

Having looked at the Pixsy site, it seems likely that the $750 figure has been selected by the photographer. Basically you sign up as a photographer, upload images you want to monitor, and Pixsy scours the web for them. If it finds a match, it asks you what you want to do about it, the options include ignoring the particular use. It then asks how much you would normally charge to licence images. It didn't find any of mine, which is a blow to my ego as a photographer ;-)