Copyright issues.

I got an email today from Photobucket telling me that I've infringed upon copyright law. They're targeting a particular picture I drew in one of my classes - it was of Garfield and had numerous mistakes - and was coursework. Thing is, the picture I referenced to draw it was actually black and white, and my version was taller, had goofed up lines, and was in colour.

They've taken my work down and issued me with this e-mail:

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>This is to notify you that we have received notice that the following material
> posted by you via the Photobucket service is infringing:
> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/Ivumo/garfield4copy.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/ ... d4copy.jpg</a>.
>
> The image(s) contained Garfield. Paws INC., the company that owns the rights
> to Garfield and Jim Davis images has filed a copyright infringement on all
> images posted publicly and which are available for redistribution. In
> response, we have removed such material from the Photobucket service. Such
> material will remain unavailable from the Photobucket service unless you
> provide us with a completed copy of the following Counter Notice to
> Photobucket's Designated Copyright Agent.
>
> The counter notice should only be supplied if you believe you have the legal
> rights to redistribute the image(s):
>
>
> COUNTER NOTICE
>
> 1. Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access
> has been disabled on the Photobucket service and the location at which the
> material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled:
>
> 2. I hereby state under penalty of perjury that I have a good faith belief
> that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or
> misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
>
> 3. Your name, address, telephone number and, if available, email address:
>
> 4. I hereby state that I consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District
> Court for the judicial district in which my address is located or, if my
> address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which
> Photobucket may be found, and I will accept service of process from the
> complaining party who notified Photobucket of the alleged infringement or an
> agent of such person.
>
> 5. Your physical or electronic signature (full legal
> name):____________________________
>
> The Counter Notice should be delivered to the following Designated Copyright
> Agent of Photobucket:</td></tr></table>

Well.. I've never been quite this insulted for a long time. So I've drafted together a response that I have yet to have checked over by my dad (he's pretty good at legal things):

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Firstly, I state that the work being targeted is my own.  I did it during a class in my College as part of a unit on Web Comics in early 2008.  The aim of the class was to identify the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and digital work.  The instruction was to reference a cartoon character and attempt to redraw that character accurately.  I can identify points in the picture where the original creator/artist wouldn't have made mistakes.  Particularly the fact that some lines do not smoothly line up - check for yourself/yourselves if need be.  I would be more than happy to locate these flaws for you if asked.  I can also obtain confirmation from 2 qualified lecturers and 3 impartial students - all of whom are above the age of 18, were present the day I drew the picture in question and personally witnessed the progression of my picture (from sketch to digital outcome) - to verify that the work you are targeting is indeed my own.

Secondly, please state if legal action IS or ISN'T being taken against me before I comply by filling out any forms of any description.  Until I fully understand the nature of this message, I refuse to provide the requested personally identifiable information (and you don't need my e-mail address for obvious reasons).
Additionally, under no circumstances will I ever provide you, or any other company or organization operating outside of the United Kingdom and who is unable to physically prove to me the legitimacy of the company or organization, my hand written or digital signature.  Suggestion that my signature is required for anything without clearly stating the intended use of my signature is fraudulent under British law.

For the record, I take umbrage that your team did not more closely examine my work before you took it upon yourselves to issue me with this outrageous, defamatory e-mail.  I am a respected, well regarded, experienced artist and graphic designer.  This sort of treatment, from the company in which I have placed my trust to host my personal work, was the last thing I expected, and am therefore unhappy about the action taken against me.  I TRUST that no one else has been informed of this deplorable e-mail issued by your department, otherwise I will pursue an official apology for defamation of character.

I also trust that once this issue has been speedily resolved, MY artwork will be reinstated as it was, without loss of data, error or further difficulty and inconvenience on my part.  Failure to do so would result in, preferably unforeseeable, counter-measures.

Be advised: I reserve the right to freely impart some or all details of your allegation with whomever I please, as the basis upon which your claim was constructed is fallacious, malicious and shamefully incorrect.

Yours,
Alexander Whitfield.</td></tr></table>


I'm not stupid when it comes to copyright stuffs. I have to be smart about it - we all do. The work I did I can prove I drew from scratch. I'm not entirely sure what they're problem is, because the work is akin to fan art, and each fan can take credit for their own respective artwork, linking it to the original source and not crossing the line by claiming the concept is theirs as well. I'm seriously displeased about their e-mail. If I've missed something, guys, then please DO correct me, because I'd rather see where I've gone wrong than blindly continue believing I'm in the right when I'm not, y'know?


EDIT: I will be adding to that thing about them not showing anyone else their e-mail, that I trust they themselves have not passed on a copy of their email to anyone else - which means they can't hold me up for causing them to defame me :p

 

Heh - Shrinker :p

It was suggested that I was being a little too confrontational, lol. Yeah, I think was /Oo;\ So it's been toned down.

Apparently my work does infringe upon intellectual copyrights because it lacked an adequate amount of notice, stating that I am not claiming the character as my own. So instead I've rewritten it to say that I'm willing to alter the image to satisfy PAWS Inc - but that I would require Photobucket to send me the original picture in its original dimensions, after which I would want it returned to my photobucket account without damage of any kind..

Hm, SO - tips to everyone else putting work up on any file hosting/sharing website:

*Go over board on stating that you aren't claiming the concept as your own.
*If it was for educational purposes only, make that the first thing you say about it.
*Reiterate often that, although you claim the rights to the artwork submitted, you do not claim rights of the concept from which your drawing is/was derived.

Walking away from this issue learning something new.