The other week, I received a very legal seeming email for a German based company called Copytrack alleging that I had breached copy right of a photographer they represented and demanding the following:
Image license (valid for 1 year from date of purchase) 389€
Compensation costs (past usage) 350€
Payment due June 5 2025
(Can’t even spell licence correctly, I grumped to myself.)
It was a very cross email beginning:
We, COPYTRACK, are writing to you on behalf of our client YayImages, who has assigned us the monitoring and protection of their licenses and image rights. On April 4, 2025 we have been informed that Alison Morton 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.
It was this one I used in a post over ten years ago.
The image in question
After a few seconds of panic, I scoffed at the email. I knew where I had bought it. My reply ran:
What an interesting email you’ve sent me.
I’m sitting here looking at the licence I purchased from iStockphoto for this photo in March 2015.
The rights holder certainly isn’t the person you mention in your email below.
I think you must be confused.
I do not expect to hear from you again.
Goodbye
Alison Morton
But back they came with more legal faradiddle demanding proof of my licence. Er, no. I was under no obligation to provide this. I asked them for theirs.
Dear Ms Fischer,
I am under no obligation to provide you with any documentation as your request is bogus.
If you really feel you must continue this charade, please provide proof of your so-called claim. Please name the photographer, the date the photo was taken and in what way you acquired the rights.
Alison Morton
CopyTrack returned an impressive-looking self-certificate:
Confirmation of ownership
I hereby declare the following statement for DOUBLESIX LTD. , WORLD TRUST TOWER UNIT D, 11 , N/A HONG KONG, HONG KONG SAR CHINA to the best of my knowledge and belief as authorised representative. the author of the image below [picture of image] is mrodlan8
On the basis of the license agreement concluded with the author, DOUBLESIX LTD. is entitled to assert claims for damages arising from the infringement of copyright in the image(s) in its own name.
DOUBLESIX LTD. has not permitted the use of the image(s) on the alison-morton.com website.
Should I be called as a witness I will bear testimony to these facts in court.
Signed by an Alex Golke.
Scary, eh? No, intimidating and complete bollocks.
I knew they had no leg to stand on, but I was becoming bored and this was eating up my time. I called in iStock. They obviously had a commercial interest. They, in the form of Jean-François, were wonderfully supportive – polite, unequivocal and a big gun. Their ultimate owner is Getty Images. The email from their legal department to Copytrack telling them to get lost was wonderfully succinct:
May 22, 2025, 17:57 GMT+2
COPYTRACK,
I write to you from the legal team at Getty Images on behalf of our client regarding case CE844B. Getty Images distributes the image in claim on behalf of the copyright holder, who is not YayImages.
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/police-car-gm160108951-5794012<https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/police-car-gm160108951-5794012>
As YayImages is not the copyright holder, we are unaware of any basis for YayImages to be pursuing this matter on their own or through the services of COPYTRACK. Moreover, the alleged infringement is a valid license from Getty Images to our customer of the contributor’s content.
Please confirm to Getty Images as well as the recipient of this notice that this case will be closed.
Thank you,
Chloe Colwill, Legal Claims Data Specialist
Brilliant!
Copytrack couldn’t resist sending me one last salvo, probably from sour grapes:
Copytrack Z (COPYTRACK GmbH)
May 22, 2025, 18:55 GMT+2
We have received your payment for compensation and will now close this claim.
Thank you for your cooperation.
No further usage rights are granted by this settlement. By the terms and conditions of the settlement the image must be fully deleted from the website, if you have not done so already, make sure that it is fully deleted right away.
Best regards,
Legal Department
COPYTRACK GmbH
Payment? What planet are they on? And no way was I going to delete the image.
A minute later, a second, rather meek email zinged into my inbox:
Copytrack Z (COPYTRACK GmbH)
May 22, 2025, 18:56 GMT+2
We appreciate your message.
We have reviewed the provided information and decided to close the claim.
Thank you for your kind cooperation.
Best regards,
Legal Department
Saarbrücker Straße 18, 10405 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 – 30 – 809 33 29 10
Fax: +49 – 30 – 809 33 29 99
Registry: AG Berlin Charlottenburg
HRB 173269 B
Domicile: Dresdener Str. 31,
10179 Berlin
CEO: Marcus Schmitt
VAT-ID: DE305466114
iStock were terrific as soon as I had contacted them and confirmed they had wrapped this up. Ten out of ten to them!
Key takeaways
Make absolutely sure you can follow the audit trail of the images you use. iStock keeps a record of everything I’ve downloaded over the years so I could see instantly when I’d bought the image. I also keep the image number on the original download in my file system.
Challenge anybody alleging infringement if you know you are bulletproof. This kind of scam is fairly common, and usually brushed off with a “go away” email or can be simply ignored. I’ve never come across one as persistent as this Copytrack one, I must admit. Their legal terminology comes across as aggressive and bullying.
Protect yourself by acting ethically
Buy a licence and download from reputable providers like iStock, Deposit Photos, Dreamstime, etc. (Other providers are, of course, available.)
Licences can have restrictions such as ‘editorial use only’ which means you can only use the image in a news media or blog post, but not in PR material or cover of a book. Always best to read the licence agreement! Sometimes I download from a free library; no fee and I have permission to use the image as I wish, but the image is not mine. It’s still a form of licence.
Photo courtesy of Britannia www.durolitum.co.uk
I often use my own photos, or public domain images and wide licences like Wikipedia’s Creative Commons Licence or Gnu but you should always acknowledge that and link to the image originator.
Sometimes you can contact a photo owner and ask permission to use their image, but you should always annotate it “Courtesy of XXX” or “With kind permission of YYY”. This is why you see the caption under the picture of the gladiatrix which I use now and again.
The copyright remains with Durolitum as they took the photo at one of their events. The benefit for them is that more people become aware of them.
Even if a friend says, “Sure, lift it from my Facebook page,” it’s best to acknowledge it. And in reverse, if you let somebody use an image you originated, e.g. a photo, you should stipulate that they should credit you – with a link to your website or wherever you originally posted it.
Much more about the nitty-gritty of copyright in this post.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
You ought to drop a line to the BKA (BundesKriminalAmpt) in Germany, as this is an attempted international fraud action, and they claim to be based in Germany. I’m pretty sure the BKA don’t want some idiot tarnishing the reputation of Germany 😉
Do you know, I might just do that! I feature the BKA in my latest thriller and in my research I formed a very good impression of them.
I’ve had these approaches too though, in my case, they’ve usually originated with US legal firms. The only case I had to spend any time on was one about a Pixabay image I’d used on one of our blogs. The US legal firm claimed, like your German folk, that I had used the image illegally. I gave them chapter and verse about where I’d got it from (Pixabay) and told them that, if the image was indeed stolen, they should take it up with the person who uploaded it to Pixabay. I didn’t hear any more. But I did check out the legal firm and they did look legit. So it was a bit worrying. In the end, I removed the image from the blog, just in case.
We’ve got better things to do with our time, haven’t we? Like (possibly) writing the next book? Or, in my case, republishing my backlist which is nearly, *nearly* done.
Yes, it’s very annoying. I’m sorry you had that problem with Pixaby. I’ve heard from another writer that they had a similar problem with them. Not very reassuring…