One Small Blogger’s Copytrack Story
Editor’s Note: This is a great example of copyright issues we can all potentially face and a shining example of AIIP’s community coming to the rescue.
I’d like to share the story of my recent experience with Copytrack, a Berlin-based company that enforces image rights, in hopes that it might benefit others caught up in Copytrack’s net. This story also serves as a real-life demonstration of the practical value of belonging to a network of professional colleagues who are willing to help one another.
On January 11, I got an email from Copytrack on behalf of WENN Rights International, demanding that I provide a copy of my license to use a photo I put on my blog in 2013 or else pay Copytrack 900 Euros (a bit over $900) to compensate WENN for the use.
Since I didn’t have a license to use the photo, believing it was subject to fair use provisions, I went online to see how others had dealt with similar notices from Copytrack. I found comments that ranged from “They’re a scam/troll, ignore them” to “Just take down the photo and you’ll be ok” to “Don’t ignore them” – this last often from law firms offering their services. I decided to take Copytrack seriously.
From my online research, I got the impression that Copytrack casts a wide net but doesn’t always check the details. I followed advice found online and offered by my AIIP colleagues that my first step should be to confirm who really held the rights to the photo in question.
I wrote Copytrack, requesting documentation of WENN’s rights to the photo. I also explained (per an AIIPer’s suggestion) that I was a one-person business, that my blog was educational and not an integral part of my business, that I always linked back to my sources, and that the post in question had a very small reach.
The response was an offer to reduce my payment to 600 Euros, still giving no proof that WENN was the rights holder.
I spent days trying to confirm the correct rights holder. I tried contacting WENN and the entities credited in my source article. No responses. I plugged the photo into TinEye for a reverse photo search. I checked other stock photo agencies. AP had a similar photo, just from a different angle than the one I’d used. And still no confirmation from Copytrack that WENN was the legitimate rights holder.
I again asked my AIIP colleagues for advice. The turning point came when one member offered to check the photo’s metadata for me. There he found this credit: “AP provides access to this publicly distributed handout photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano” (the photo was of the Sistine Chapel right before a papal enclave).
Meanwhile I’d finally made contact with a photo editor at WENN. After confirming that WENN did “represent this photo via one of our suppliers”, he asked if I’d received a notice from Copytrack. I told him the whole story (that I’d considered it fair use and why, my research to confirm WENN’s rights to the photo, and the metadata information).
His response was: “… on this occasion, please consider the matter is now closed and you should not hear further from Copytrack.” The next day Copytrack confirmed that the case was closed.
It’s not clear to me what prompted the editor to close the matter, but I do know that it’s thanks to my AIIP colleagues’ encouragement and help that my case ended so positively.
The lessons I learned from this experience are:
- Don’t panic, use your research skills and tap into your network.
- Ask for documentation, don’t just trust that a company demanding compensation has correct information.
- Use reverse look-up sites like TinEye to check for a photo’s use history and rights holders.
- Use sites like FotoForensics to look at a photo’s metadata.
- Do be mindful of what is and isn’t fair use (here and here).
Susan Baerwald, an AIIP member since 2012, has always been impressed by the range of expertise within AIIP. She enjoys getting to know her fellow AIIPers by following the discussions, tips and stories shared on AIIP’s listserv. She is the principal of Baerwald Research, LLC where she does secondary research for her architecture, engineering, and construction firm clients to help them gain insight into their clients and markets.
