C
cashcash
Guest
I ran a FREE non/nude celebrity/models picture website, one of the tens of thousands
presently on the internet. I used pictures I got from other celebrity websites like mine, I never digitized or scanned photos.
Now I have a photographer saying he is going to sue me for $150,000 dollars
for using one(or possibly a few) of his pictures. There were about 2000 pictures on my site and I believe he only owned one of them.
This picture was only on my site for a few weeks. The only evidence he has
is a screenshot or a printout. I've decided to shut down the website so
that all the pictures are no longer on the web. He can't prove how many people saw it,
but only about 500 people saw it. My estimate is that I "made" 50 cents off
his picture from other advertising sources, I didn't charge for the picture
though and I didn’t even get paid per impression from advertising companies. Is there any precedence for a case like this and could he reasonably get a substantial amount of money from me? I honestly made pennies from the picture and he can't even prove how long it was on my site. I have screenshots from the pages where I believed I originally downloaded the pictures from. What kind of settlement could he possibly get? His main claim would be that by giving away his picture for free he could no longer sell it. But it was and still is on other websites and he has no proof of how many people saw it, downloaded it etc. etc.
Also, he has made some potentially false claims in emails that I have saved, I believe to scare me into settling.
1. He says they are sending or have sent the "crime" to the police.
2. He is from Sweden but he says he also has lawyers in the United States.
3. He showed me the one picture he owned(it has his name on it) but he claims that there are “many more.”
4. . He says he is contacting other photographers to get them to sue me too, which wouldn’t make sense since he would have to share any judgment with them.
If he doesn't have lawyers in the U.S. could that be considered extortion? In fact, if he lies about anything in an attempt to get me to settle would that be considered extortion?
presently on the internet. I used pictures I got from other celebrity websites like mine, I never digitized or scanned photos.
Now I have a photographer saying he is going to sue me for $150,000 dollars
for using one(or possibly a few) of his pictures. There were about 2000 pictures on my site and I believe he only owned one of them.
This picture was only on my site for a few weeks. The only evidence he has
is a screenshot or a printout. I've decided to shut down the website so
that all the pictures are no longer on the web. He can't prove how many people saw it,
but only about 500 people saw it. My estimate is that I "made" 50 cents off
his picture from other advertising sources, I didn't charge for the picture
though and I didn’t even get paid per impression from advertising companies. Is there any precedence for a case like this and could he reasonably get a substantial amount of money from me? I honestly made pennies from the picture and he can't even prove how long it was on my site. I have screenshots from the pages where I believed I originally downloaded the pictures from. What kind of settlement could he possibly get? His main claim would be that by giving away his picture for free he could no longer sell it. But it was and still is on other websites and he has no proof of how many people saw it, downloaded it etc. etc.
Also, he has made some potentially false claims in emails that I have saved, I believe to scare me into settling.
1. He says they are sending or have sent the "crime" to the police.
2. He is from Sweden but he says he also has lawyers in the United States.
3. He showed me the one picture he owned(it has his name on it) but he claims that there are “many more.”
4. . He says he is contacting other photographers to get them to sue me too, which wouldn’t make sense since he would have to share any judgment with them.
If he doesn't have lawyers in the U.S. could that be considered extortion? In fact, if he lies about anything in an attempt to get me to settle would that be considered extortion?