Hello everyone and happy Tuesday, I got an email this morning saying that there may be a possible copyright issue here is the email.
Possible Copyright Issue
Inbox
x
Content Petit
Attachments
8:05 AM (1 hour ago)
to me
Greetings,
You are using my client’s (https://indoorgardenook.com/15-stunning-anthurium-varieties-you-need-to-know-about/) image (attached below) in one of your articles (https://gardenofedengardencenter.com/growing-anthurium). We are glad that it is of use to you.
There is no issue if you’ve bought this from our market partners such as Shutterstock, iStock, Getty Image, Pexels, Adobe, or Pixabay.
However, if you don’t have the proper license for the image, then we request you to provide image credits (clickable link) on your article. Or else this will be against the copyright policy.
Unfortunately, removing the image isn’t the solution since you have been using our image on your website for a while now.
Feel free to ask any questions that you may have.
Best regards,
Dave Miles,
Contentpetit.website
Attachments area
Now the thing is that I use Pixaby and stay on the free side, after I got this email I double-check the photos on Pixaby and they are on the free side as I knew they would be. The persons involved are waiting on my response how should I proceed? Thanks so much for your help!!!!!
Reply
I can't offer legal advice, but Pixabay and several others may not back you up with their images being valid. They are supposedly not required to, either. If they allow any random person to sign up and submit content, any random person can submit any image whether they have rights to it or not.
Here is the terms of service for Pixabay:
https://pixabay.com/service/terms/
In it, is the following statement:
"You accept that even though we do our best to prevent it from happening, Pixabay cannot be held responsible for the acts or omissions of its users, including any misuse or abuse of any Content you upload."
There are other statements in these terms that I would find troublesome and should be read by everyone using these types of websites.
It's odd that a scammer would send you a letter without wanting some monetary solution for the infraction. In your case, they are asking you to include attribution (image credits). Therefore, it seems like it may be a legit inquiry.
If all they are asking for is attribution, it sounds like you've got nothing to lose by providing that.
The best advice is to seek legal advice for matters such as these.
Jeff
Otherwise, I would just ignore them. They are simply trying to scare people into sending them money for images they most likely don't even own.
Rex
