Copyright Claim Emails
The other day while staying in my lane and minding my own business, an alarming email came through requesting whether I had authorisation to use a copyrighted image on the Internet with regards to an article back in 2016.
I wont lie, I panicked for a little bit.
I did some internet research and consulted my legal team. Full disclosure it consisted of internet searches and asking AI… (watch-out lawyers its coming for your jobs too)
Then I took a calming breath and worked it out methodically… 2016 wasn’t yesterday, if anyone was seriously concerned about potential copyright infringements, they would not wait 10 years before seeking clarity, unless dodgy, opportunistic shenanigans were afoot.
This yielded three key pieces of information:
- COPYTRACK is a real, registered company (based in Germany)
- While it runs a legitimate service, it operates in a space that many describe as controversial.
- I should carefully consider my response or non-response.
From what I gathered, COPYTRACK operates much like a bounty hunter or debt collector, representing clients’ image copyright claims. Their process appears largely automated with reverse image searches flagging potential matches and generating email notifications.
What should you do if you get a copyright infringement email?
While it is not a traditional phishing email, responding does confirm that your email address is active, which is something worth bearing in mind. That said, simply ignoring such an email is not always advisable either. If a genuine copyright violation exists and the rights holder has jurisdiction or legal representation in your region, the matter could potentially escalate.
The cleaner approach is to assess your situation honestly:
•Do you have a valid licence or used the image under a recognised free-use licence? Multiple people report that submitting valid licence documentation results in the case being closed promptly.
•Are you unsure? Remove the image from your media gallery
•You can ask the claimant to provide evidence that they represent the rights holder and that the rights holder actually owns the image in question.
•Before responding to any copyright claim, never hastily admit guilt without legal consultation.
In my case, I sent an email highlighting that the image in question was a free stock image used under the Creative Commons license and got the response that no further action was required on my part.
To avoid any further drama, I removed and replaced the image with an AI-generated rendition… another W for AI.
Note this article is not legal advice and the best practise is to use reputable platforms for stock images and respect intellectual property rights.
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