What is Copytrack?
Copytrack GmbH is a German company that identifies unauthorized uses of photographs on behalf of its clients.
Copytrack’s clients are mainly photographer or photography/stock photo companies.
What is the purpose of these emails?
When Copytrack finds that a website has reproduced a photograph without permission or license, it contacts the website’s publisher to request the removal of the image and the payment of a sum of money as compensation.
Copytrack’s request, usually sent by email, typically takes the following form:
« We, COPYTRACK, are writing to you on behalf of our client [client’s name], who has assigned us the monitoring and protection of their licenses and image rights. On [date] we have been informed that [your name or company name] is likely using an image without permission and the client has exclusively commissioned us with the clarification, administration of the image rights for the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany and, if necessary, the enforcement of any copyright infringement through our partner lawyers. Images are protected by copyright law almost worldwide and infringements are actionable under the respective national law. Please see the attachment below for details.On behalf of our client, we must first determine if you have a valid license to use the images in question in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. If you have a valid license or any other legal justification to use these images, please reply to this email and include proof of license purchase and/or any other necessary information to validate the usage.
Please note that you are obliged to provide the necessary information about the usage of the image to allow our client and us to verify the lawfulness of such usage.
Please respond to this letter no later than [date].
If this is not the case, your use of the image material most likely constitutes a copyright infringement within the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. If no settlement can be reached, we as Copytrack are directly instructed to enforce these rights for the territory in the Federal Republic of Germany through our German partner lawyers and, in addition, to instruct our respective partner lawyers in other countries to examine and, if necessary, enforce the infringement of the rights in the respective countries. You could then be legally obligated to compensate our client for the damage caused by this copyright infringement. »
Thus, when the website owner cannot provide proof of a license, Copytrack seeks compensation for the damages suffered by its client.
This is not a fine, but a compensation claim, the amount of which is assessed by Copytrack or its client.
Are Copytrack’s demands legitimate? Should you pay the amounts requested?
Depending on the situation, Copytrack’s claims can be either justified or, on the contrary, unfounded and abusive.
This largely depends on the originality of the image used, as originality is the key condition for protection under copyright law.
A judge, if a lawsuit is filed for infringement, will determine whether or not the photograph is original. Therefore, it is important to assess the situation based on previous court rulings on photographic copyright infringement.
In any case, even if an act of infringement is established, the amount of compensation can be negotiated.
Indeed, the amounts requested are often significantly out of step with standard photography licensing fees.
It is therefore advisable not to make any payment before obtaining a lawyer’s opinion.
In any case, it is better not to simply ignore these emails.
Free first examination
If you have been contacted by Copytrack and wish to receive assistance in defending yourself, we can help you.
📩 You can contact me at :
nb@bressand-avocat.fr
A preliminary review of Copytrack’s claims and a quote will be provided free of charge.
Please don’t forget to provide emails received and sent.