Leslie Burns Copyright Extortion Letter
I received a letter from an attorney named Leslie Burns threatening to take me to court over a single image on an old blog of mine. The image turned out to be copyrighted. In the letter I was asked to pay a settlement of $5,500 otherwise this issue would be taken to court.
Has anyone dealt with copyright extortion letters before? Specifically with this attorney? Any advice as to how I should handle this?
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Flint
Rolla,Afghanistan
Copyright
#3Consumer Suggestion
Mon, April 20, 2020
Copyright infringement does not require actual damages. Statutory damages can range from $750 to $30k per work for non-willful infringement, and up to $150k for willful infringement. That said, the cost of filing a federal lawsuit over a single image in a blog would probably exceed $30k, so taking the images down should be enough.
John
Takoma Park,United States
All you have to do
#3General Comment
Fri, April 10, 2020
Is remove the photo, which I assume you've done already, and let the other party you removed it. If this other person wants money, they will need to go to court and prove damages. Don't give them one dime. If your website did not generate money using that image, you are almost certainly in the clear. If it did, you MAY be forced to pay some restitution, though that would require the copyright owner to prove the image generated the income.
Under no circumstances should you "settle." Make the copyright owner prove damages. You might as where the figure $5500 came from. But then hang up and tell them to let you know when the court date is. There's an excellent chance you'll never hear from them again.