In this article, our copyright solicitors discuss how you can determine if a PicRights copyright infringement claim is valid, the risks of ignoring such claims, and the steps you can take to respond to a copyright infringement claim.
Contents:
- Is PicRights a legitimate business?
- How do I know if the copyright claim is valid?
- What are the risks of ignoring a copyright infringement letter from PicRights?
- How do you respond to a copyright infringement letter from PicRights?
- Is the fee fair and can it be negotiated?
- Can I dispute the copyright claim if I believe it is unjustified?
- What evidence do I need to dispute the claim?
- How can I prevent similar claims from happening in the future?
- Summary
Is PicRights a legitimate business?
PicRights is a copyright agent and is not regulated by the Law Society. Although, it may instruct external legal advisors to deal with any claims on behalf of its clients.
Some of the methods employed by PicRights may be deemed unethical or over-zealous and the amounts requested to settle claims are not always proportionate or explained.
How do I know if the copyright claim is valid?
You will need to be able to identify the work and verify whether the work is original and belongs to the claimant or not. With the help of a copyright lawyer, you will need to assess whether the work has been copied without the consent of the copyright owner. If you can demonstrate that the image was obtained independently or from a different source, the claim may not be valid. Alternatively, you may have already secured the necessary permissions or licences to use the image(s) from the original owner or an authorised licensee.
What are the risks of ignoring a copyright infringement letter from PicRights?
You may choose to just ignore the PicRights letter, however, ignoring the letter is unlikely to put an end to the matter. PicRights and their clients have the resources to escalate the claim if they want and you may end up with a court demand if they believe it is worthwhile to pursue the claim against you.
How do you respond to a copyright infringement letter from PicRights?
If you are confident that your use of the image(s) does not constitute infringement, there is no legal obligation to stop using them at this point. If there is some doubt you may want to consider removing it, the more that you use the image(s), the greater the claim for damages that the owner could claim if the case ends up in court, or the higher the licence fee that may be requested by PicRights for settlement or authorisation.
Is the fee fair and can it be negotiated?
PicRights will generally request a licence/authorisation fee for continuing to use the image(s) in question. They do not typically explain how the fee is calculated but it may be based on the number of past uses of the image(s) in question and the specific terms of the alleged infringement, such as whether there is a flagrant breach or inadvertent use. You can try to negotiate the fee, but this is more likely to be successful if you engage a copyright lawyer to assist you and deal with the negotiations on your behalf. Contacting them yourself may just make the matter worse, for example by inadvertently revealing information that you should not disclose.
Can I dispute the copyright claim if I believe it is unjustified?
If you think that your use of the image does not constitute infringement or that you have a valid defence, you may be able to dispute the claim. Valid defences to copyright infringement include fair dealing – where the work is used for criticism, review or commentary, the work has already been made public and ownership of the work is sufficiently acknowledged. To constitute fair dealing, the use must not be excessive or cause unfair prejudice to the author. Use for research and private study also comes under the defence of fair dealing as does use of the material for caricature, parody or pastiche.
Incidental inclusion of the copyright material in a film, broadcast or artistic work may be a further defence or where it is not possible to ascertain who the original author is, despite reasonable efforts having been made and it is reasonable to conclude that the copyright has expired or that the original author died more than seventy years’ ago.
You may also be able to contest the claim if there was unreasonable or excessive delay by the author in enforcing the claim. If you have used the material for a long time and only just received notice of a claim, you could dispute it on this ground.
What evidence do I need to dispute the claim?
If you dispute the claim, you will need to provide evidence to back up your defence or arguments. The evidence required will depend on the ground(s) on which you are relying but generally, the following information will be important:
- Evidence of your own creation of the work or of its creation from authorised sources;
- Evidence to show that any similarities are a result of common sources or are otherwise coincidental;
- Third party witness statements can be used to provide valuable information concerning industry practices or;
- Copies of any licence, purchase agreement or other authorisation that you may have obtained to use the image;
- Evidence of any steps you took to try to find the original author of the work;
The amount of evidence should be proportionate to the case and will need to be presented in a clear and accessible manner with sufficient explanation of what it is intended to establish or refute. A copyright lawyer will be able to help advise you on what evidence to include and how to present it in the correct form and manner.
How can I prevent similar claims from happening in the future?
To try to avoid future claims, you should always try to ensure that any images you use are your own work or have not been copied from a protected work. This can entail doing some further research into the origin of any images that you want to use and requesting information where necessary. For example, if you commissioned the work from a third party, you would need their confirmation that they obtained any source material legally and have authorisation to use and develop it. If the photographer insists on retaining the copyright in their work, you should request an exclusive licence from them to use it and ensure that any model releases are also included, if identifiable individuals are depicted in the photographs. You should keep a record of how you created or obtained the images and copies of any documentation or agreement providing you with any necessary authorisation.
To show that an image is your own copyright-protected work, you should use the copyright symbol together with a copyright notice, such as “© Copyright [name of author] 2025. All rights reserved”.
Or, if you are authorised by one of the defences in the Copyright Act, to use the images for a particular purpose, you should make sure that you include any necessary acknowledgements and stick to the permitted use.
Summary
You may panic when you receive a formal letter of claim from a company such as PicRights, with a demand for immediate payment of a sum of money. This type of letter is not uncommon and there is often scope to negotiate or refute this type of claim. The best way to proceed is to obtain the advice of a copyright lawyer who can look into the circumstances and investigate whether the claim is valid or whether you may have a legitimate defence. This should be the first step before you make any payment or send any response to the claim, to ensure that you are fully informed of your rights and do not do anything to compromise your position.
