Draft:Higbee and Associates Law Firm
Submission declined on 24 September 2024 by Alalch E. (talk).
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Comment: Some sources have been provided but they mostly deal with the topic of copyright trolling and do not deal with the company itself in much detail (WP:CORPDEPTH). BBB scores and interviews of company people don't contribute to notability; Tech Times doesn't contribute either: Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 364#Tech Times (techtimes.com), iTech Post (itechpost.com), Gamenguide (gamenguide.com). Some statements fail verification: For example the $5 million figure sourced to Grit Daily, which is hardly a reliable source to start with, is taken from a quote of a Something Awful post (quoted in the article); that's just inadequate sourcing. —Alalch E. 03:27, 24 September 2024 (UTC)
| Founded | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Matthew K Higbee |
| Headquarters | |
| Services | Trademark, Copyright, Intellectual Property |
| Website | www |
Intellectual Property Law Firm
[edit]Higbee and Associates is a law firm specializing in copyright and trademark law, headquartered in Santa Ana, CA. The firm boasts 38 attorneys, 100,000 clients, and success in 30,000 cases.[1] The firm has a score of 3.96/5 and 35 complaints with the Better Business Bureau. [2] The firm has earned the reputation as a "copyright troll" according to Tech Times.[3]
The founder, Michael K Higbee only had $140 in his bank account and “hit a wall” practicing other forms of law, so he ventured into utilizing new forms of technology with his law practice.[4]
Copyright Infringement Demand Letters
[edit]One form of such technology is reverse photo searching. Higbee and Associates culls through the internet looking for suspected photos used without permission, and makes $5 million per year from sending threatening letters to website owners. Other threats from Higbee and Associates have referenced copyright dates that were later than the alleged violators published their webpage, indicating the copyright claim is not legitimate.[5]
According to one news source, Higbee and Associates specializes in monetizing alleged copyright infringement claims, and sends allegedly falsified copyright claims in email scams. Some threatening letters have referenced photos in public domain. This has earned them the reputation as a “copyright troll.”[5]
Controversies
[edit]Letters from Higbee and Associates sometimes do not include the name of the party they represent, which raises suspicion as to whether there is a legitimate lawsuit in process. The law firm appears to ignore safe harbor laws protecting website owners from the actions of their parties.[6]
Fact Company referred to Higbee and Associates as “copyright bots cashing in on a fever dream for copyright trolls” which threatens to sue web creators for $150,000 if they don't pay $2,500 for use of an image. Sometimes, Higbee and Associates has gone after people who don't even own the website referenced in the demand letter.”[7]
Questions about the legal doctrine of “fair use” often surround the demand letters from Higbee and Associates, for instance the firm ordered an obituary website owner to pay $4500 or face a $150,000 lawsuit for a tombstone photo.[8]
Some of Higbee and Associate’s threatening letters have referenced photos that were actually hot linked to other webpages, rather than actually posted on the page of the alleged violator. For instance, the site SomethingAwful received a demand letter of $6700 for images of Hitler that were hotlinked, rather than actually posted.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ https://www.higbeeassociates.com/about/attorneys/
- ^ "The Law Firm of Higbee & Associates APC | Better Business Bureau® Profile".
- ^ "Who is Higbee & Associates and Why is the Firm a 'Copyright Troll?'". 23 April 2024.
- ^ https://www.inc.com/caitlin-berens/applicant-of-the-week-higbee-and-associates.html
- ^ a b "Higbee and Associates: The Latest Legal Trolling Scam - Grit Daily News". 10 February 2021.
- ^ "Lawyers Threaten SomethingAwful for Using Photo in Movie Review". 9 June 2015.
- ^ https://www.fastcompany.com/40494777/here-come-the-copyright-robots-for-hire-with-lawyers-in-tow
- ^ "New York Daily News Photographer Threatens to Sue NYCultureBeat for $150,000 - Lounge". 25 January 2022.
- ^ https://boingboing.net/2018/10/08/something-awful-receives-cluel.html
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