The TOS here is a bit sketchy so I'd be cautious.

I first heard of pixsy when an artist who had purchased a license of the photo was served a "this art is copyrighted so send us $1500 now" notice asking what to do.

Apparently pixsy is thought of as basically a scam to ignore. https://twitter.com/berrryriot/status/1390181023527235587

So basically if you upload ANYTHING to their site you lose all agency to litigate or control your work. Pixsy just sends aggressive form letters telling people they owe $$$ and to pay up or go to court. Pixsy keeps half of this. So that's why they want you.

I have an ACTUAL up lawyer and he told me you do NOT want to send out cease and desists unless you plan to follow through legally if they ignore you or else it could be argued you gave permission. Actual litigation is expensive so I don't see why Pixsy would bother for you.

So I'm not a lawyer, but I'd worry this could actually cause me to LOSE the rights to my work via takedowns that claim work is copyrighted if it is not in fact legally copyrighted if the person Pixsy sends a takedown to ignores the email or asks to see proof.

Not to mention I don't like the idea of sending some random broke artist a $1500 bill. The person I saw was wondering if maybe they were sold the image incorrectly. They immidiately took it down, but had NO WAY of directly contacting any humans to talk. Only "pay $1500"

Anyway just be super cautious of things like this. Just use a reverse image search and then file your own DMCA.

Also be cautious of what you use even if it SHOULD be free because Pixsy is a bulldog hoping people just pay up without looking into it.

Oh cool I just looked it up in a lawsuits group and they sent a takedown to a non profit volunteer-only company that gives out education scholarships demanding $1100. The non profit removed the photo but continued to get threats until they asked for proof of copyright.

The company then replied with this and offered a 30% discount?!? Wtf please don't trust Pixsy with your work. They are obviously predatory and act like a collections agency.

This is not the best way to protect your work.

Someone else is saying a writer they knew was contacted but only asked to pay $500 because they were using a low res image in an accidental infringement. The photo WAS correctly copyrighted. They kept negotiating offering to pay $50 until Pixsy just gave up, no settlement.

The fact Pixsy didn't take the $50 means they're only in it to scare people into paying high dollar amounts and not actually in protecting your work. By ignoring the settlement it could potentially act as approving the licensed use of the work for FREE. Use a real lawyer.

End of thread disclaimer that I'm not a lawyer and always cross reference anything I say with one. I actually did an out out court settlement with a large company that had infringed on me and it was very expensive for BOTH of us but I was successful due to my experienced lawyer.

https://twitter.com/KikiDoodleTweet/status/1390717265788620801?s=19

Oh no typo!! I meant "IP" lawyer. I usually ignore my typos but the distinction is important if you are looking for one to rep you. Stands for intellectual property. (We used http://avvo.com  to find local ones and had several free consultations)