You may be searching for information on whether you should pay a copyright demand letter from Higbee and Associates. Or, perhaps, you may have found your way here through our other article on the Higbee and Associates/ Picrights duo that is haunting the inboxes of business owners everywhere. Either way, we’re happy you’re here and hope to be able to provide some clarity during this stressful time.
Why did I get a letter from Higbee and Associates threatening to sue me?
Higbee and Associates is a law firm that represents various photography licensing organizations including the AP, Reuters, AFP, and more. They work in tandem with a “first line” organization called “PicRights” that typically contacts website owners first demanding payment for use of imagery. An issue here (at least I suspect) is that because of high reports of their messages to SPAM, their emails will often get sent to junk folders. That’s why you may not have seen a PicRights email first, and are getting a demand letter threatening a lawsuit seemingly out of the blue.
Higbee and Associates often takes over cases after PicRights collections have failed to produce a result. Armed with form letters and copied-and-pasted “selections” of the copyright statute, they add a legal element to the demand for payment.
The issue is that, while some of their claims are valid, (and despite what many a Redditor may claim, they do in fact sue people on behalf of their clients, which you can view in PACER/ Public Access to Court Records) many are overblown or may not be accurately detailed.
Here’s a screenshot from October of 2024 showing the cases they’ve filed this year:
So we take these demand letters seriously, but we also always want to proceed with a healthy dose of due dilligence.
Should I pay Higbee and Associates?
This answer really depends on a variety of factors. While you should take every allegation of legal wrongdoing seriously, if you read this article, you’ll see some of the reasons I don’t just flat out trust the demand letters that I see from this particular group/ their friends over at PicRights.
Typically, when people ask me “So… should I pay Higbee and Associates?” I first want to see (i) a copyright registration that shows ownership of the work, and (ii) specific information on that registration relating to original authors, dates, etc.
Normally, I take allegations of ownership from attorneys in good faith. However, in this particular situation it bears repeating that there have been three separate situations where I have personally been in good faith negotiations with attorneys at Higbee and Associates where the attorneys swear up and down that the registration they proffer is associated with their claim– and when my client shells out the $400-600 to pull the registration document, the image for which they are demanding money is not in the registration. There is also a valid question as to the validity of some of their registrations, as they are foreign registered as “works made for hire” via countries that do not recognize this particular doctrine. This gives me grave concern about the due diligence being performed in order to verify claims.
This is why lawyers really need to review any documents and communications before we can answer “should I pay?” There are a lot of variables that may make or break our answers.
What should I do if I get a letter from Higbee and Associates?
You can read through our big analysis here, but for a quick rundown, here’s some steps to take when receiving your first Higbee and Associates letter:
- If you’re contacted by Picrights, Higbee, or any other of these organizations OR receive communications from them, DO NOT ENGAGE in a back and forth with them.
- Don’t sign anything without having a lawyer look at it.
- Don’t pay anything without having a lawyer look at it.
- Don’t admit, deny, or put any dates, uses, or other admissions in writing. This includes saying “this is fair use!” or “I got it off of Wikipedia!” Remember: “everything you say, Higbee and Associates or Picrights can and will use against you!”
- DO NOT think they will just go away. These are automated and/ or high-volume letters that are part of a very well oiled machine, and Picrights or Higbee & Associates will more than likely follow up.
- DO ask for their copyright registration certificate.
- DO sit down and write out the following information:
- Where you found that image (if possible)
- The first date it appeared on your website, blog, or social media (this is very relevant to the murky Statute of Limitations for copyright law)
- The last date it appeared on your website, blog, or social media
- The context in which it appeared on your website, blog, or social media
- If it is still available on your website, blog, or social media.
- If the image is displayed via an RSS feed or an embedded feed of any kind.
- DO Get a lawyer. Make an appointment with one who practices copyright law regularly. They will want to know those dates that I posted above, because copyright is a very nuanced and fact specific practice.
- DO NOT panic.