Electronic Frontier Foundation1d ago
A nonprofit web host got a copyright demand—for a photo it didn’t post. They removed it anyway. The law firm still demanded money. EFF pushed back, and the claim fell apart. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/03/baseless-copyright-claim-against-web-host-and-why-it-failed
A Baseless Copyright Claim Against a Web Host—and Why It Failed

Higbee & Associates, a law firm known for sending copyright demand letters to website owners, targeted May First Movement Technology, accusing it of infringing a photograph owned by Agence France-Presse (AFP). The claim was baseless. May First didn’t post the photo. It didn’t even own the website where the photo appeared.

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Show threadRaven (she/her)    1d ago
@eff im assuming whoever wrote this is waaaay more knowledgeable than i am but im a bit confused reading "The copyright owner’s failure to timely register the work" as one does not need to register a work in the US for copyright to apply?
Show threadKnordstrom1d ago

I believe there's additional damages a copyright holder can seek if the work is registered in the US. I haven't read the article. My guess is the copyright holder got overzellous and demanded all the penalties but weren't elgible for most.

@sparklepanic @eff

Show threadRaven (she/her)    

@knordstrom @eff

oh, i wasn't thinking about extra penalties if it is registered! thanks for the insight

damn our copyright system sucks

Apr 3 at 4:30pmWeb