PA Media infringment

[Ianf]

Hello all,

This seems to get posted by quite a few people it seems but i thought i'd ask again as there doesn't seem to be many about PA Media.

My partner just received an email from PA Media over the use of 1 image on her personal blog (that doesn't make her any money/advertise etc) that is in breach of copywrite and she will need to pay the license fee plus administration costs etc. this comes to just under £800 which is utterly ridiculous.

I have been onto their website and found the image and the fee to license it and it comes to £29.99

what are others outcomes when refusing to pay this insane amount and offering to pay the correct license fee and remove the image?

or do others have any advice otherwise?

[bullnation]

Hi Ian,

I have received a similar email this week.

I wondered how your experience has panned out?

Thanks

[IPMatters]

Hello,

The only advice I can offer you both is to ask them for a breakdown of the costs.
What sections of the cdpa (copyright, design and patent act 1988) are stated for example? Also, you mention administration costs. These wouldn't I believe hold up in Court. That is unless the claimant argues that you have been unreasonable, stalling for example, thus adding extra time to the infringement case. So get that removed from the claim.

To argue that you made no money from it doesn't help the case I'm afraid. Nor is innocence a defence in law.

Do try and think of it the other way 'round though. With each person who takes images from a Google search, and publishes wihout paying, this means less income for the creative person who took it. Afterall this is how they make their money, pay the bills etc. Photographers therefore have the right to seek cost for the loss of a license fee (which this is) and furthermore claim for damages.

I am no legal Eagle, but do know my way around the IPEC court system. If I can help further, I would be happy to give it a go!

[Karaokekev1]

yip me too, on my website, I posted a pic of Blackpool to say I was visiting Blackpool showcase for couple of nights. few weeks later almost 500 quid demanded, I replied, hang on a minute, this was an alamy image, they are connected to getty, I subscribe to getty images via a poster creator app at 9.99 pcm? the image from my app provider was 99% same when I checked (and sent it to him) except people were walking and were a bit further along than the getty one on google so obviously taken same day.
no they replied (Adrian was his name, he seems to be a robot his name is everywhere i notice).
I then reply (sadly genuinely true) that my mother has just entered end of life care so I will be unavailable for the next two weeks to reply. next day I receive another email saying ok we will knock 10% off if you settle now? so either a robotic reply or a sick in the head salesman.

after a few more weeks the emails are trading, I made an offer of the cost of the print plus a little over the top, as my poster app company are very slow in replying, despite one email from them saying I can use getty images via my payment set up with them (postermywall.com).

now this week they sent another threatening email on Sunday, I went crazy, I said you are now emailing on a Sunday? Adrian replied, so sorry it was auto messaging system, it shouldn't really happen on a Sunday, (nice little admission of guilt there bonny lad) please accept 10% off. I replied, listen mate, you harrass me when my mother is passing away after I mentioned it to you twice, you admit you are part of getty and alamy and that there were no warnings on this photo of basically blackpool seafront, you have since tagged the photo with a little black box but I have the original and there was nothing and I got it from Getty which you accepted? (copied n pasted from his email) "We have a right to defend our copyright and we do not have to watermark our images as I've explained. Getty is an affiliate (we work with them, we don't own them, and vice versa).
We acquired Alamy in 2020."
I replied this is almost entrapment? as anyone allowed to use getty or alamy will assume if they are getting them from their poster app provider its ok? then you basically troll the net looking for images, add PA Media sticker to it, pluck a number out of the sky and use scare tactics on folk?
I am actually 100% willing to go to court now on this one. flask and sandwiches at the ready

[bullnation]

Any up date on this?

[CP85]

Hi all, I've also had an email like this today. In my case I had contributed to an article in The Independent (online) and had a link to the article on my site. The image they are requesting payment for is the lead image of the article which can be seen on my site above the link. I've removed the image and offered them a reasonable amount (which I'm sure they'll reject) and have seen other forums where people say they've ignored them completely with no consequences but I'd be interested to hear how it pans out for others

[designer!]

Is there any update on this please? I've received the same email today and not sure what to do.

[designer!]

Hi all,

I'm having the same nightmare. Today I received an email from PA Media Group stating I'm infringing on copyright and they want £450 even if I delete the image. It's an image from the Euros 2024 I've used on a blog post. I'm not profiting from this image. My website is a design studio, so I'm worried they see my company as a quick money grab assuming I'm making a ton of money since I offer design services. Reality is, I recently quit my job to pursue my business full time and I'm living on savings - so this costly amount for an image will be a huge hit on me.

I've done some image searches, this same image has been posted all over social media, articles and personal blog posts (I doubt the majority of these have paid to license either), even a cropped version of the image on the official Euros twitter account. I understand that technically you can take someone's work, edit it, then it's no longer a copyright issue as it's not the original? The image is owned by Getty and can be purchased for £39 for 3 months use on a website, or to own it £150 for small and £375 for large - so obviously this Adrian bot is scamming me.

I've seen some people have got the settlement figure down to £50, others have ignored it even when receiving threats and nothing has come. The email was sent to my company info @ email address, but I don't use this and my name @ address is what's connected and used, so I'm guessing they tried a generic business email, such as info @, as the off chance. Unfortunately I did respond asking how much to settle vs how much to buy (before logging into the case and seeing it's £450), but the response includes a fake name pretending to be an assistant, not my name.

Need some advice on how to handle this please.

[AndyJ]

Hi designer! and welcome to the forum,

This thread contains all the generic advice we offer on the subject. It is worth saying that copyright infringement is a strict liability matter, meaning that whether or not you used an image unwittingly or for commercial purposes or not, are not relevant. Also I'm not sure where you read or heard that "technically you can take someone's work, edit it, then it's no longer a copyright issue as it's not the original" but that is not true. Making an altered copy of a work is called adaptation and requires the permission of the original copyright owner (see section 16(3) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988). The only time this might be acceptable, without permission, is if one of the limited fair dealing exceptions applied. From what you have said about how the image was used, it doesn't sound as if any of those exceptions would apply in your case. And fair dealing would only apply if you had provided an adequate credit to the photographer/copyright owner.

[Footballguy]

Hi Designer, I've had a very similar experience. Adrian contacted me demanding over £600 because I used to run a website that promoted the work of students in football analysis and one of the student had uploaded an image which now it turns out is a PA media image. He offered to make it £400 before a deadline but I had already answered and was awaiting response. The website makes no money and I've actually closed it down because of this as I can't afford to pay that money for something that a student has uploaded.

I've been told that the image exists on Alamy and can be purchased for less than £10. Has anyone had any response or resolution, obviously don't want this to go to even more of an extent that I can't afford but it just seems so unnecessary for what was a mistake by a student and I had no knowledge of, whilst I understand the letter of the law on this, it feels over the top.

Will/do they take further action or is this some kind of scam to try their luck on getting excessive amounts?

[CP85]

I'm also receiving threatening emails from Adrian at PA Media Group. I took the image down and responded initially offering them £50 plus 25% admin fee. They responded saying their photos are much more expensive than Alamys' as they directly employ their own photographers. Interestingly, I never mentioned Alamy and the plot then thickened when they sent the next email with the subject line they said they were acting on behalf of Alamy. Very dishonest. I'm now ignoring the emails and will let you know if anything further happens. Also interested to hear how it pans out for others!

[Disgruntled123]

Had the same thing from Adrian claiming to be from PA Media with absurd photo costs while presenting all the image information (primarily his email title and the image code included in the text) for Alamy, which is where the PA Media website linked to, to buy the photo license for £29.99 plus VAT. I removed the photo and then I immediately paid the license fee to Alamy online, but he claimed Alamy/PA Media were unrelated (despite they fact they're the same company). In a later email he admitted that £29.99 plus vat was the correct fee, but that because I'd accidently used the image without a license first, they were now free to charge me anything they liked retrospectively, which he claims is about £750.

After paying the £29.99 plus vat on Alamy I also offered an additional £29.99 without prejudice as a good will gesture for inconvenience which was rejected.

[CP85]

Thanks for the update @disgruntled123. Are you responding any further? I've had another email last week which I've then ignored. I figure if they're that adamant I owe them in access of £900, they can use proper court channels and at that point I'll respond, but I don't see any of this really stacking up in court.

[Disgruntled123]

Nothing from my side now. I have tried to be reasonable and pragmatic but to no real final closure. Now to wait and see what if anything happens in future.

I get that there is a liability that can't be removed by claiming an 'accident', but it seems to me that a genuine mistake where someone misses out on a fee of thirty quid can then lead to a claim and legal threats pursuing hundreds of pounds is disgraceful.

[bullnation]

I have received another email from them this week, after goind back and forth for a long while and making numerous settlement offers.

Sounds like they are trying to put the scarers on me - but I don't intend on paying the £1500 they are demanding. Likewise I will await to see if they take action. I have been back and forth with them for 5 months now...I feel the action would have come by now?
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To Whom it May Concern,
This is our final reminder regarding the unauthorised use of our copyright-protected imagery, on your website, central-therapy.uk. Despite our previous correspondence, this matter remains unresolved, and it's imperative that you address it immediately. If you do not address this issue now we will escalate this matter to our legal team to evaluate litigation options.
Your continued inaction on this pressing issue is concerning. Let us once again be clear: If this infringement is not addressed promptly, this could lead to legal action, which would undoubtedly result in considerably higher costs for you.
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