Copyright Infringement - Legal Fee Relief
Do you remember the "Tree Sweaters" on Christopher Street in the West Village? The Art Project was a gift donated to our community to brighten the darkened street from all the closed store fronts. A local merchant, Holly, and her Aunt Polly from Vermont, created these with love. The almost 2000 crochet squares took 9 months to make by hand and covered 27 trees.
Holly’s small one-person business has been sued by a photographer for reposting an article from the NYPost that contained his photograph of these trees. Even though, according to the Google analytics, only 27 views were made of the page and attribution was provided to him, the photographer is seeking more than $100,000 in damages from the court. In addition, this will incur legal fees to defend this case, necessitated by the refusal of the photographer to accept a settlement above and beyond what he will likely collect at trial.
Represented by the same attorney, this photographer has filed 17 lawsuits against alleged infringers, including against small and large businesses, digital publishing companies, media companies and real estate agencies. His attorney has filed over 700 lawsuits in the past 640 days, jamming up the courts and abusing the copyright law as it is intended. A judge in the Southern District, Judge Denise Cote, labeled this attorney a “copyright troll,” imposed monetary sanctions, and ordered him to ethics classes. Other judges have also sanctioned him.
Legal costs to defend this lawsuit can amount to $25,000-$45,000. This reality forces defendants to settle out of court for large amounts between $4,000-$15,000 even though these amounts exceed the photographer’s best day in court. In many cases, an unintentional, innocent copyright infringement results in a fine by the Court of only $250-$750. Holly has nonetheless tried to settle this case for thousands and thousands more than this to avoid the steep costs of legal fees, but the photographer has rejected all offers. Holly now has no choice but to endure the cost of appearing in Court for a fair resolution by a Judge and Jury.
This is an abuse of our legal system, bullying, and a form of legal extortion.
Please help my friend Holly.
Read more about the Christopher Street Trees:
Parks Department wants to kill these tree sweaters
Parks Department won’t snip away tree sweaters
New York City Trees Can Keep Their Sweaters
A Yarn About the Christopher Street Tree Cozies, Coming Down in April
