ImageRights International Inc. Extortion attempt based on false pretenses and misrepresentation Boston Massachussets

We reached out to complainant about his unlicensed use of 17 (not 1, as he suggests) images; he did not pay for them; he never sought permission to use them.  Complainant has shown no documentation demonstrating that he was given permission by the photographer to use the 17 images.

We tried to amicably resolve this matter with him.  In response, he replied that he is not affiliated with the website www.gessato.com, despite his email address coming from the gessato.com domain.  When confronted with this issue, he responded: “The next email you write us I will go to the police and file a report against you personally…”

While we continuously pressed him to address the matter in the hopes of resolving it reasonably and directly, complainant responded with the following: “Alright smarty pants. So today you won the jackpot, we have a police report, a BBB case and a ripoff report Who whoooo way to go baby. The web is infested of complain about how irrational, idiotic, illegal and nonsensical is your behavior. I will certainly not let this go, you have to f**king learn how to stay in this world.”  To date, we have not received a police report, nor any contact from any law enforcement agency regarding this matter.  

Our professional photographers make their living by licensing their works to websites such as the complainant’s.  When the complainant takes such images without paying for them, he is effectively depriving them of their rightful income.  To date, the complainant has still not paid anything for the privilege of using 17 of the images in question on his website. 

Despite repeated attempts on our part, the complainant remains uncooperative in resolving this matter amicably and reasonably.