Most image demand letters describe a real claim, but few are worth what they ask. Here is how to check the facts before you pay, reply, or ignore it.
This guide is general information for creators and businesses in the U.S., not legal advice. Copyright, licensing and drone rules depend on the facts and change over time; check the Copyright Office, the FAA or a lawyer for your situation.
Quick notes
- A demand letter is a claim, not a lawsuit, and the amount is an opening position that is often negotiated down.
- Take the image down, save your records, and search the Copyright Office’s free public records before you pay anything.
- Registration timing controls the risk: without timely registration the owner generally cannot recover statutory damages or attorney’s fees.
- Statutory damages run from $750 to $30,000 per work, up to $150,000 for willful infringement, and are awarded per photo.
- A Copyright Claims Board notice gives you 60 days from service to opt out, or a judgment of up to $30,000 can bind you.
The email arrives with a screenshot of your website, a photo circled in red, and a number: several thousand dollars, payable within weeks. Demand letters for unlicensed images have become a routine part of running a business online, and most of them describe a real copyright problem even when the amount is inflated. Here is what to do in the first days after a letter arrives, how to check whether the claim holds up, and what your realistic options are.
What the Letter Is Actually Saying
A demand letter is not a lawsuit. It is a claim that you used a copyrighted photograph without permission, plus an offer to settle before the sender escalates. Most letters include a screenshot of the alleged infringement and a payment demand, often several thousand dollars.
The letters usually come from licensing agencies or law firms rather than the photographer directly. Some work for large photo and news libraries. Others sign up independent photographers and keep a share of what they collect. They find images with automated reverse-image searches that single out every match they cannot connect to a license, which is why the photo named in a letter is frequently several years old, sits on a page nobody at your business has looked at in a long time, or still loads from its direct file address even after you pulled it from the visible page.
Two things catch business owners off guard. Copyright law does not require intent, so an honest mistake made by a freelancer who built your site still creates liability for your business, which is responsible for the content on its own website. And a photograph is protected whether or not it displays a copyright notice.
Check Whether the Claim Checks Out
A demand letter is a starting point, not proof. Before you respond or pay anything, work through the facts:
- Where did the image come from? Talk to whoever handles your website and marketing. A stock subscription, a photographer you hired, or a vendor contract can change everything. If a web designer picked the image, check your agreement for anything about who licenses the content.
- Do you have proof of a license? Preserve licenses, subscription confirmations, invoices, download receipts and emails. Some letters go out against images that were properly licensed, and a receipt can end the dispute quickly.
- Who actually owns the photo? The person who shoots a photo generally owns the copyright from the moment the shutter fires. Confirm the sender represents that owner before treating the claim as valid.
- Is the photo registered? Anyone can search registrations made from 1978 to the present in the Copyright Office’s online records at no cost. If the photo was not registered in time, the owner is generally shut out of statutory damages and attorney’s fees, and what the claim is worth usually comes down to what a reasonable license would have cost.
Registration drives your risk more than any other single fact. An owner becomes eligible for statutory damages when the work was registered before the infringement started or within three months of publication. The damages run from $750 to $30,000 per work as determined by a court, can reach $150,000 per work for willful infringement, and drop as low as $200 per work for innocent infringement. They are awarded per work, so several photos multiply the exposure. Actual damages, by contrast, reflect what a license should have cost, which is often far less than the number in the letter.
Three Things Not to Do When the Letter Arrives
- Do not ignore it. Some senders never sue, but you cannot tell which from the letterhead, and some do file suit or take claims to the Copyright Claims Board.
- Do not pay the same day. The demanded amount is an opening position, and these figures are frequently negotiated to a fraction of the original demand.
- Do not admit fault in writing. A reply that apologizes and promises payment locks in the story before you know the facts. Pull the image from your site, keep records showing how you used it and for how long, and hold off on any reply until you have checked the claim.
Careful: If the claim arrives as a Copyright Claims Board notice rather than a letter, the deadline is strict: you have 60 days from service to opt out. Miss that window and a judgment of up to $30,000 can bind you.
What You Can Say in Response
Once the image is down and your records are gathered, a few realistic paths remain:
- Negotiate. Most demands are negotiable. If the photo was registered in time and the use was clearly unlicensed, settling for a reduced amount is often cheaper than every alternative.
- Dispute the claim with documents. If you hold a license, or the sender cannot show it owns the copyright, send copies of your records and ask for the demand to be withdrawn.
- Offer a license fee. When registration was late or missing, the claim is worth roughly what a license would have cost. A short letter offering that amount, without admitting anything, often resolves the matter.
- Walk away only after checking risk. An attorney can tell you whether the sender has a history of filing cases. Ignoring the wrong sender is how a business becomes the next defendant.
Check your insurance as well. Many copyright claims fall below policy thresholds, but confirming coverage before paying legal fees or settling costs nothing.
Why Ignoring It Usually Costs More Than Settling
Federal copyright law allows statutory damages that can far exceed the initial demand, and they attach per work. A letter about one photo can become a claim about a dozen once someone runs your whole site through a reverse-image search. Removing the photo does not erase the claim for the period it was online, which is why the letter asks about the history of the use, not just today’s website.
A settlement ends the matter. A fight in federal court costs far more than almost any demand letter asks for, and even the small-claims option, the Copyright Claims Board, can award up to $30,000 per claim.
When It Is Time to Talk to a Lawyer
Some letters are routine and some are not, and the difference is hard to spot from the outside. Consider an attorney when the demand is large relative to your budget, when the sender has a track record of litigation, when you believe the claim is false, or when several images are named. A lawyer can also check whether your web designer or marketing vendor bears contractual responsibility for licensing, which can shift who ultimately pays.
Keeping License Receipts So This Does Not Happen Again
Prevention here is paperwork, not technology. Use licensed or original images, and keep proof of every license in one place: the terms, the invoice, the download confirmation. Put licensing responsibility in writing in your contracts with web designers and marketing vendors, the same way your other business documents allocate risk ahead of a problem.
If you shoot your own photos, registering them gives you the same tools these claimants use. A registration creates a public record of ownership and makes statutory damages possible when the timing rules are met, which is a large part of what makes their letters expensive. And if the situation is reversed, with someone else using your photos without permission, the process runs the other way: our guide to sending a DMCA takedown notice covers how to find stolen images and get them removed.
To head off the next letter, start with Image Licenses Explained, which covers royalty-free, rights-managed and Creative Commons terms. And before anyone leans on fair use as a defense, How Fair Use Works for Photos explains where that argument holds up on a commercial website.
FAQs
Is a photo copyright demand letter a scam?
Usually not. Some letters are phishing attempts, but many come from legitimate enforcement firms working for real copyright owners. Verification is still the right first step before any payment.
Am I liable if my web designer added the image?
Yes. Copyright infringement does not require intent, and your business is responsible for content on its own website. Your vendor contract may affect who ultimately pays.
Should I just ignore the letter?
Rarely. Some senders never sue, but others file in federal court or at the Copyright Claims Board. Check the sender’s history with a lawyer before deciding.
How much are these claims actually worth?
If the photo was registered before the infringement started or within three months of publication, statutory damages of $750 to $30,000 per work are possible. Without timely registration, the claim is usually worth about a reasonable license fee.