... Id like to Share This pic..
personally Shot in Zurigo times ago ... Im not a PRO ...
And here's the next problem. You've most likely taken photos at an event without proper permission. Have you been accredited as a professional photographer? The rights holders could easily sue you if you don't have written permission to publish and / or a model release. I know, it's horrible. But as far as I understand we're discussing reality, no matter if we like or hate it.
Cheers,
Martin
do you think I have to remove this pic and I Can't share it?
ok I'll Do.
I don't think it hurts Anyone than me..I'm a bit scared reading youre message.
it's sad 
do you think I have to remove this pic and I Can't share it?
ok I'll Do.
I don't think it hurts Anyone than me..I'm a bit scared reading youre message.
it's sad
Many people share their photos regardless of legal considerations. 99.9% of the time nothing bad would ever happen. But this thread is about legal risks when publishing images. And I just pointed to yet another risk to be aware of. 
and I thank You! cause Im not aware of them at all.
I figured out that probly I don't have the right to even have a camera/phone With me in that situation.
but I ve' never think about the right to publish a pic.
if it's mine i can do whatever was my first thougt,
I never though to waste the work of a PRO
but it seems also that any country got his rules so..
i have just returned from Frankfurt and have found an e-mail in my spambox by this german photographer who lives in california
here is the text which means - i dont know - ??! does he really think a german court is going to speak a sentence of x.ooo thousand dollars?
for using a photo?
Der Gesetzgeber sieht für eine unberechtigte Nutzung eines beim
Copyright Office registrierten Bildes eine Strafe von mindestens US
Dollar 30.000 vor, bei einem "willful infringement" gehen die
Strafzuschläge bis zu US Dollar 150.000.
this is more than i earn before tax in a couple of years. please comment and/or help and don't forget to remove
ANY photos you have posted anwhere on the web which you don't have written permission
i am pretty f?%%&&ed up at the moment 
The first mistake was to use these photos.
The second mistake was to confess your wrong doing to the rights owner.
Don't make a third mistake!
It's high time to get in contact with a lawyer specialized on copyright infringement, otherwise you're completely lost if they file a case.
A lawyer always knows how to play "the game".
He won't be very amused that you already sent a kind of personal statement.
Anyway, I wish you good luck and a quick solution of the problem.
I take it you've been looking around the net about this... there's a lot of people being pursued by this company.
Here's one site that a number of people have used to help them: http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/
Looks like there's an active forum there as well. Like Lightbox says... seek some legal advice ASAP!
Imagine for a second how many people post pics on forums or on facebook. Something smells very rotten about this...
Hold tight - it must feel bloody horrible but until you've got some proper legal advice the picture looks far from clear.
At any rate - good luck with all this!
Yes, you need a lawyer asap!
Don't' answer any more emails yourself.
Remove all these pictures from your homepage (not only the links) - check for backup copies or copies in another size as well.
... Remove all these pictures from your homepage (not only the links) - check for backup copies or copies in another size as well.
And make sure you remove your website from the internet archive's wayback machine (if it's listed there)!!!
I take it you've been looking around the net about this... there's a lot of people being pursued by this company.
Here's one site that a number of people have used to help them: http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/
Looks like there's an active forum there as well. Like Lightbox says... seek some legal advice ASAP!
Imagine for a second how many people post pics on forums or on facebook. Something smells very rotten about this...
Hold tight - it must feel bloody horrible but until you've got some proper legal advice the picture looks far from clear.
At any rate - good luck with all this!
Unfortunately this is exactly how some companies bolster their coffers. Getty Images is a massive 'offender' of pursuing rediculous money... but they do 'negotiate' some times. But the figues that guy is quoting will unlikely be held up in court. Usually you compensate for losses and I can hardly see how he lost much.
thank you so much for posting, everyone counts
"fortunately" me i haven't used a getty image, but i copied this from i-don't-know-where-googlepics-found-it-first-hit
without thinking about it and there was no hint at all to a copyright holder
it is only NOW that i know that i would have been responsible to research the copyright holder
but it is not getty, that would be even worse than it is already
anyway i am not in the mood to party
Gerald's, IMHO this sounds to me like a 'fishing' exercise from this person. Effectively what he wants to do is put the frighteners on you in the hope that you will settle (for a much smaller sum) and he has made some money from you.
Yes,there may be technical cases of copyright involved here but think about this- if it was that easy to take an international legal copyright infringement case against an individual there wouldn't be ANY illegal downloading of mp3s now would there?
In this instance he probably doesn't know if you are an individual or a multi national company who may be able to settle this for a few $ and get rid of the problem.
When you look at this all you have received is an email. How do you know he actually holds the so called copyright in this case anyway? Emails don't constitute legal actions in any shape or form.By the sound of it this person has sent out other emails - again he probably works this on the basis that one in a hundred actually starts a dialogue with him with the sole intention of agreeing some kind of fee from them.What he certainly isn't doing is pursuing multiple legal cases against individuals in international jurisdictions. That would cost him 10 time more than any money he would ever get back.
If I were you I would remove the image.Dont reply to the email and don't start anything to do with a legal action as this will start to cost you more money. I would sit tight and have no doubt that you will not get anything more from this individual.
This sounds more like a scam than a genuine issue.Ignore him.
I agree with this one, 'till you don't receive anything in writing per post this is just BS.
The infamous Landgericht Hamburg, who else could have decided this way. 
okay thanks again.
well, the writer of the e-mails is the manager of this famous photographer. i think the case in itself is correct and
whether they are willing to go to court is debatable, but i think they would.
the bad thing is - as you can read in the post of armin - the last e-mail can be considered received whether i am in
holiday, it was in the spam or - as in this case - my lawyer enjoys his weekend.
this deadline of sunday is a bad joke, isn't it? also lawyers have weekends and i came back from frankfurt yesterday's eve.
life's no fun these days.
P.S.: i am sorry, i am a wreck now, i have forgotten to mention: they want to settle this out of court if i have told them
by sunday what i "think would be an appropriate sum of money". "appropriate"!? 
Don't agree to pay any very high amound of money.
All you may have to pay is up to 3000Euro for the picture and the costs for the lawyer.
But again it's much better to let an experienced lawyer in the field of copyright do the work.
