Check your images before a copyright demand letter does

Which images get letters

• Stock photos used without a license, or with a license that lapsed or didn't cover the use.
• News and agency photos copied from another site, including ones embedded in old posts.
• Images a former designer, agency or writer added, with no record of where they came from.
• Images on pages you've forgotten: the letter can arrive years later.

Who sends these letters

• Stock and news agencies writing for themselves, such as Getty Images.
• Firms that collect on behalf of rights holders, such as PicRights, Copytrack and Pixsy.
• Law firms acting for a photographer or an agency.
• Scammers. Fake letters exist, so look the sender up yourself instead of using the links or numbers in the letter.

A one-afternoon audit

• Scan the site. Start with the images marked Paid stock found and Widely published, owner unknown.
• For each, look for your license: a receipt, a stock account's download history, or a contract with whoever made the page.
• No license? Replace the image with one you own or one that's public domain, or remove it.
• Keep the report's CSV with your licenses, so you can answer quickly if a letter does arrive.
• Pro watches up to 3 sites every week and emails you when a new image turns up on a stock site.

If a letter has already arrived

1. Don't ignore it, and don't pay or admit anything yet.
2. Check that it's real, and which image and page it's about. Take a screenshot before you change anything.
3. Look for your license: a receipt, a stock account's download history, or a contract with whoever built the page.
4. Trace the image here. If it's on Wikimedia Commons or a public archive, it may be public domain or under a license you meet. An agency selling a copy doesn't by itself show that it owns the rights.
5. Ask the sender what the claim rests on: proof it owns or represents the image, the registration number and date, and when it says your use began.
6. Talk to a lawyer before you reply in substance or pay.

What US law says about the amount

• An owner who registered the image in time can ask a court for statutory damages of $750 to $30,000 per work, up to $150,000 if the infringement was willful, and as little as $200 if it was innocent (17 U.S.C. §504(c)).
• "In time" matters. For a published image, statutory damages and attorney's fees generally aren't available if the infringement began before registration, unless the image was registered within three months of first publication (§412). The owner can still claim actual damages and any profits from the use (§504(b)).
• A US work must be registered before its owner can sue (§411(a)), and a suit must be filed within three years after the claim arose (§507(b)).
• Most letters settle for far less than those maximums. Removing the image stops new use but doesn't undo past use.