PA Media infringment

[Footballguy]

Interesting to hear everyone's responses on here and I think to some degree it is positive that we are all having the same experiences. The thing that I thought of which was interesting was that when Adrian from PA originally emailed it was around April/March time and I hadn't been monitoring my emails, when I finally picked them up around June I had had several final reminders etc but then panicked and interacted, the question is, how serious were these final reminders if they went months sending them without any action? Had I not have responded then what would have happened as nothing had done for months?

My last contact to them was about a month ago in which I basically said there was nothing to worry about as I bought it fair and square from Alamy and when you buy from them it says you can use the imagine. Today I have received the below but this time from Adam! I'm wondering if that's because in the last email I also question if Adrian was a real person as he doesn't have a last name, so now they've introduced Adam. Either way, I've sent them back an email to say this email address is not monitored and requests won't be responded. Lets see what happens now

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Hello

Thank you for your email.

Alamy is not the license holder of the image. The copyright holder PA is pursuing a settlement for your unauthorised use of our image, not Alamy. Please view the PA Editorial and Commercial Rate Cards for website usage on the PA images website: https://www.paimages.co.uk/ . Please scroll to the bottom of the page to view both Rate Cards for Editorial and Commercial website usage.

Thanks
Adam

[CP85]

@bullnation I've had the same email in the last week. I'd previously made a reasonable offer and intend to wait it out. Even if it does go to "litigation" I don't see anywhere other than small claims court touching it. It would be a lot of hassle for them to go down that road with everyone.

[bullnation]

Interestingly, I too have now been introduced to Adam, see below:
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"Hello,
I've recently joined the team to try and resolve some of the unsettled cases.

After reviewing your case and as a gesture of goodwill to resolve this amicably, PA Media Group will accept PA's lowest online Commercial Website license priced at £450 to conclude this matter.

To make the payment, please log into fairlicensing.pamediagroup.com using your case ID: 9THXP7 and your PIN: 817441 to settle this claim. In the portal you can see more details of the case. Once you have made the payment, you will be covered for the online use that we have found, and the case will be closed.

Thanks
Adam"
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This comes across a very strange email, particularly after the previous email was threatening me with court if I didn't pay the £1500.

[AndyJ]

Certainly a new tactic, but ultimately just as unhelpful as their previous 'offers'. I wonder how successful Adam will be and how much he knows about the law.

[bullnation]

I gave the following response...

Good afternoon Adam,

I am not willing to agree to your inflated demands. I have made a beyond reasonable offer to you which I hope you will agree to.

Additionally, I hope you can appreciate that all I must go by with these interactions, are emails directed to me demanding large sums of cash. How would one know that you are not a phishing scam? For all intents and purposes, I am certain that it is – as such I will be reporting these emails for my safety. I therefore also request that you provide me with some proof of your legitimacy.

I will not be responding to further emails as I have tried for 4 months (or longer) to find an agreement that is fair.


I then received a response, which seems badly written....

Hi
We have a legal right to defend our copyright, and whilst it's been 4 months, you have not accepted our offer to resolve this breach.
Our next steps are to be decided, but we have made it clear that we do accept your 'offer'. It does not even begin to cover our costs incurred to date, or the loss of revenue from your use of our image, and the risk that your use has de-valued the image moving forward.
You'll continue to receive our automated reminders, as the situation remains unresolved.
Our legal time will decide the next course of action of the next couple of years.
Best,
Adam

[AndyJ]

Hi Bullnation,

It's hard to be certain, but that response hardly sounds like they are working hard to resolve the issue. My feeling is that this won't go any further, and even if you do continue to receive the odd 'automated reminder', Adam will have moved on to more productive cases.

[Disgruntled123]

"Our legal time (sic) will decide the next course of action of the next couple of years"!!

Next couple of years?!

Haha, that's such an absurd suggestion clearly designed to keep people fretting. What utter scabs they are.

[bullnation]

That did make me laugh to be honest - 'the next couple of years' bit took my threat levels right down, as it certainly does nothing to give a sense of urgency!