This is a follow-up to How To Manage Copyright Issues In YouTube, which reminded me that the copyright scene has spawned numerous copycat entities that act like ambulance chasers, scaring creators and website owners into parting with their hard-earned cash.
My YouTube Channel Update
At the end of the article referred to above, I mentioned that I would post an update, which is that I elected to have YouTube automatically erase the offending music tracks from most of the videos affected, and I simply deleted the other videos because they were either private or of little interest to anyone. I should point out that the automated erase editing took several days, and patience is required. To check this, go to Studio>Content>select all>filter>claims to show all videos with claims outstanding. Fortunately, I now have a clean bill of health in that respect.
Copyright-Troll Scare Tactics And Bullying
I have several websites for which I use Themify as my chosen theme design company. All the themes have a demo option where you can install a full demonstration site with images, pages and layouts which you then replace with your own. This is very useful for learning about a particular theme and how it works, but the images included in the demo may or may not be copyright! This is how I unwittingly became the target of a claim from Copytrack (on behalf of Concept Production), an organisation that scans the internet for unlicensed images on behalf of photographers, agencies and other interested parties, apparently. In my case, once I had finished editing the website in question way back in 2022 and having deleted some demo images, I inadvertently forgot to remove dozens of other images I had downloaded in the demo. I had mistakenly assumed that the images belonged to Themify and never gave another thought to it until April 2026, when Copytrack sent me a threatening email demanding hundreds of euros to resolve the issue.
Having checked with Themify, they informed me that all stock images are indeed copyrighted, so I deleted all the demo images on all of my websites, replying to Copytrack thus:
“We request proof of copyright ownership, including a copy of the original image and evidence that Copytrack is authorized to represent the owner. Please also provide the date and proof of first publication, so we can verify that copyright has not expired, the image is not in the public domain, or covered by a valid Creative Commons license…”
The above is just a small excerpt from what should be written to these vultures, and having done that, I heard no more. Subsequent investigation has revealed that Copytrack, Image Rights International, We Are Era Music, Pixsy, and many others use dubious practices to scare people into paying up whether the matter is proven or not. I’ve read dozens of reports of this kind of scaremongering with these vultures seemingly reluctant to provide their own proof of who allegedly owns the image. My advice is to always challenge such threats politely in writing if that is even possible in an entirely automated system and move on with your life.
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