Background: scam round 1. From my 9/29/25 posting “Today’s scam”:
Let’s summarize. Copyright Agent (CA for short) assumes my blog is a company, with a staff. They refer to an image on an arnoldzwicky.org link — which contains two images, and I have no idea which they’re referring to. They then say that the image is under copyright to their partner company, which does business under various names (I’ll just call them Visions here); that I have violated these rights; and, cutting to the chase, that I must now pay a claim for illegal use of the image or be subject to lawsuit. The claim amount is nowhere stated. CA provides a URL for paying the claim. I am not rising to the bait.
Checking out the Visions company …, I see that it’s a botanical image database (apparently very large), providing images for advertising and other commercial uses.
… On some previous occasions, I have been notified that some image I used in a posting was under copyright, and had the choice of removing it from the posting or paying a fee. Since I live on a small fixed income and provide my writings for free (and in fact pay to have my postings free of ads), I can’t afford such fees and so just delete the images. (More recently, images mostly come with statements about their copyright status; I’m then increasingly unable to find usable images to illustrate many ordinary things.) But CA offers me no such choice; I have already broken the law and must now pay up.
I am not compliant.
Round 2. This e-mail of 10/13 to me at my Stanford address:
NOTICE TO CEASE AND DESIST
To whom it may concern at Arnold Zwicky’s Blog,
Copyright Agent US, Inc., in partnership with Visions Video & Photography, hereby draw your attention to an image (herein after the “Image”) used on the following URL:
[https://arnoldzwicky.org/2012/06/26/from-south-america]
Our Partner, Visions Video & Photography, holds the rights to represent the Image in question, and without a valid licence or an agreement with the rights holder, the use of this Image constitutes a violation of the Copyright Act 1976.
Title 17 §§ 504-5 of the U.S. Code outlines damages for which an infringer is liable which are the copyright owner’s actual damages and any additional profits of the infringer. Specifically, the copyright owner is entitled to recover the actual damages suffered by him or her as a result of the infringement, and any profits of the infringer that are attributable to the infringement: the sum of which can escalate quickly.
Additionally, officers, directors, managers, and owners of a company can be personally liable on the basis of vicarious liability for acts of copyright infringement committed by the company, when they direct, control, encourage, assist, supervise, and/or knowingly participate in the infringing activities and benefit from the activities. See Universal Furniture Int’l, Inc. v. Frankel, No. 12- 1928, 2013 WL 4427699 at *5 (4th Cir. 2013) (finding officer of closely held corporation personally liable for copyright infringement).
To resolve this matter expeditiously, we request the following actions be taken:
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Immediately remove or disable access to the Image from any platform, website, or other means under your control wherein you have published the Image.
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Provide a written response within seven [7] days from the receipt of this letter, confirming that you have ceased all infringing activities and detailing the steps taken to comply with this cease-and-desist notice.
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We request you submit the payment claim, as described below, within seven [7] days from the receipt of this letter: the period for which will be the last opportunity to do so.
Round 3. This e-mail of 10/20 to me at my Stanford address:
To whom it may concern at Arnold Zwicky’s Blog,
As you know, seven [7] days ago, Copyright Agent US, Inc., in partnership with Visions Video & Photography, notified you about an image (herein after the “Image”) used on the following URL:
[https://arnoldzwicky.org/2012/06/26/from-south-america/]
Our Partner, Visions Video & Photography, holds the rights to represent the Image in question, and without a valid licence or an agreement with the rights holder, the use of this Image constitutes a violation of the Copyright Act 1976.
Seven [7] days ago, we sent you a formal Notice to Cease and Desist the alleged infringement and make a payment for the unlicensed use of the Image.
We will provide you with one final opportunity to make the payment claim direct to Copyright Agent for the unlicensed use of the Image and we request you submit the payment claim below within five [5] days from the receipt of this letter.
Once that period ends, we have no choice but to refer this matter to our local legal attorney and you will be responsible for any further legal costs.
It is always our goal to amicably and efficiently resolve these claims without formal legal escalation, but without communication from you, these efforts have an end limit and our Partner is left with no choice but to consider its remaining legal options.
There things stand. These really have been difficult days, what with biopsies, waterfalls, getting rid of most of my possessions, searching for an alf, and doing all this with no helper / caregiver to lighten my load. Nevertheless I persist.
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