- Jurisdiction
- Texas
I have a small site and one of my editors wrote an article with links within it that hyperlink to Amazon products since she is an Amazon affiliate and Amazon allows(encourages, actually) us to use their product images. They actually make sellers sign a statement giving Amazon and any affiliates the right to use the images for advertising purposes. And Amazon makes affiliates sign a statement that they will use the images only to link to their site. We follow all their rules, always.
I received a letter from ImageRightsInternational that one of the product images violates the rights of their client, Annie Leibovitz. The product image is of the Vanity Fair magazine that had images of Caitlyn Jenner on the cover, photographed by Ms. Leibovitz. The actual magazine image is hosted at Amazon, by the way.
Amazon itself says we have done nothing wrong, but I removed the page until this could be sorted out. Amazon also has affiliates sign an agreement that Amazon will not intervene legally in website disputes so they won't provide legal help. Meanwhile the Image Rights company says Amazon is wrong and I have no right to have this image displayed on my site and owe them $3000 for prior use. And that removing the page shows guilt, even though I told them I admit nothing but using Amazon product images, no other ones. They offered to settle for a reasonable amount and told me to make an offer.
Now they say if I don't pay the $3000 they are escalating it to a lawsuit. I asked an intellectual rights attorney who said that I am probably in the right and for a fee he would write them a letter but he would not say for sure that I am right.
The company is located in Boston, and I am in Texas.
Do you have any advice on what I should do next?
I received a letter from ImageRightsInternational that one of the product images violates the rights of their client, Annie Leibovitz. The product image is of the Vanity Fair magazine that had images of Caitlyn Jenner on the cover, photographed by Ms. Leibovitz. The actual magazine image is hosted at Amazon, by the way.
Amazon itself says we have done nothing wrong, but I removed the page until this could be sorted out. Amazon also has affiliates sign an agreement that Amazon will not intervene legally in website disputes so they won't provide legal help. Meanwhile the Image Rights company says Amazon is wrong and I have no right to have this image displayed on my site and owe them $3000 for prior use. And that removing the page shows guilt, even though I told them I admit nothing but using Amazon product images, no other ones. They offered to settle for a reasonable amount and told me to make an offer.
Now they say if I don't pay the $3000 they are escalating it to a lawsuit. I asked an intellectual rights attorney who said that I am probably in the right and for a fee he would write them a letter but he would not say for sure that I am right.
The company is located in Boston, and I am in Texas.
Do you have any advice on what I should do next?