I recently received an email from Copytrack regarding a copyright infringement for use of an image on my website from 2022. They want proof that we had the license or backpay of approximately 389.59 € for the use of the image. Here is the email in reference and yes I googled just like everyone else did to find out these emails are a scam. The photo in question I purchased the license or it back in 2019. If they did their research they would know it came from istock and not the company from Norway.
Copytrack, a company that has been around since 2015 and boasts that it has been involved in enforcing over 200,000 cases of image theft to date. And if you are here, then you are not the first person to reach out to us about Copytrack demanding money in exchange for a release based on past use of an image (a/k/a copyright infringement) and a possible license for future use. Problem is THEY DO NOT DO THEIR RESEARCH :
They are demanding ” 389.59 € ” 
Do not respond to them.They are reported as a scam company that simply sends threatening emails to people to try to extort money from themSee: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.copytrack.com They are in Germany, they have no jurisdiction over you and they are not coming to the US after you. Ignore them and do not respond to them at all.
places like these send out THOUSANDS of letters per year to people alleging copyright infringement.
Most come from Germany, for whatever reason, but the reality is that it’s just going to be nonsense and it’s intended to basically extort you.
That’s the short answer.
Here is the long answer:
What is critical to understand is that UNLESS A JURY OR A JUDGE SAYS SO, a person simply accused by another of violating the Copyright Act does not have to pay. These companies send letters to those they suspect are infringing on their copyright to scare them into compliance. This doesn’t mean that you have to do anything they say. The reason that they want to scare you is:
They have to sue in federal court which means likely hiring a lawyer. – The Copyright Act generally requires the copyright be registered with the Copyright Office before they can even bring a lawsuit.For certain copyrights like movies, music, and images, the copyright holder must file for their copyright within 3 months after its first publication or one month after learning of the infringement so there is a time constraint. If there is no proof they sought copyright protection through the government, then they can’t recover statutory (automatic) damages, but must prove actual damages, which can be hard to do.The costs to sue Would far exceed what it is they are demanding from you.So usually, what most people do is just ignore it. Even if the sender is successful 10% of the time, they can collect thousands from people without having to wait 2 years to settle a lawsuit, and since most copyright violators would just file for bankruptcy, ignoring them tends to work. Does that make sense?
in a nutshell, ignore them. Everyone else is !
