ApriPoco
item # - - - by Toshiba
I recieved a DMCA order I received today (September 20th, 2016) from "License Compliance Services Inc. on behalf of Agence France-Presse" via email demanding the removal of the photo on this page. They are claiming that the photo is copyrighted to their client and that I must have a license to use said image. Since I readily admit that the image was not one that I personally took, I am pulling the image from my site. As the robot itself was never offically released anyway, I am removing all information regarding ApriPoco as well.
The full text of the notice appears below:
Subject: Image License Inquiry for Agence France-Presse - Reference Number: [reference_number_redacted]
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2016 20:00:26 +0300
From: LicenseCompliance@lcs.global
Image License Validation for Agence France-Presse - Reference Number: [reference_number_redacted]
Dear Business Owner,
As an introduction, License Compliance Services (LCS) provides copyright compliance services to third-party content owners, including Agence France-Presse. LCS has noticed that the following imagery represented by Agence France-Presse has been displayed on your website. Agence France-Presse has been unable to find a license for this usage of the imagery by your company.
At the end of this message, we've attached a visual of the imagery and its use on your website.
Our goal in contacting you is to identify an active license for this use, if one exists. If you do not have an active license for the use of this imagery, we request that you remove the imagery from your website and contact us.
Please be aware that removal of the imagery will not resolve this issue. We do require payment of a settlement for past usage of the imagery at issue.
Please contact us by phone at 1-855-387-8725, by email at LCS@LCS.global or by visiting: https://settle.lcs.global/882733321538.
You can send us your valid license / authorization by visiting https://settle.lcs.global/[reference_number_redacted] and clicking the "I have a license..." link. We would like to resolve this time-sensitive issue as soon as possible and request that you respond within 14 days from the date of this correspondence.
If you believe you have received this notice in error or have questions, please contact us with your reference number 8827-3332-1538 at 1-855-387-8725 or LCS@LCS.global.
On behalf of LCS and Agence France-Presse, we thank you for your cooperation and look forward to assisting you in resolving this matter.
Sincerely,
License Compliance Services
Now personally, this seems like a scam, since the email is also demanding monetary recompence for useage of their (alleged) intellectual property up until this point in addition to the remoaval of said image. Whether it is legitimate or not, I have no intention of making any restitution for the use of an image used in compliance with the Fair Use exceptions. This site is a hobbiest endeavor, has never made a single profit or received any income. Claiming copyright infringement in this case would be like filing a claim based on someone's use of the Netflix logo in an effort to promote Netflix!
In any event... Please enjoy the rest of my site and if you have any comments you would like to voice, please feel free to send them to the email address listed in the DMCA letter above!