APIC Worldwide, (the Association for the Protection of Internet Copyright) is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the continued education of Webmasters and other "Netizens" regarding Internet copyright law, and to strict enforcement of such law through the cooperation of international, domestic, federal, state, and local statutes, laws, and ordinances.
That's their formal description.
In simple English, it's a group that hunts down, notifies, and if necessary, sues any Websites posting photos and videos they don't own.
The association (then known as "Web Posse") was formed in January of 1997, when veteran adult photographer Steve Easton saw his photographs being used illegally on several Websites. Because Easton was dealing with many "16- and 17-year-old computer wizards" who didn't know much (or seem to care) about business law, he went after them with the kind of aggressiveness the word "posse" suggests. "When I started out, I did drastic things like E-mail bombing," he says. "I'll take some of the blame for the mistakes I made back then, but because of that bulldog crowd, I almost had to." Easton says even had threats to his life in the beginning, but ironically many of those people are now apologetic.
"People are more aware nowadays that copyright infringement laws exist and many who are going against them are doing it blatantly," says Easton. He doesn't discount that some people just "claim" ignorance about copyright laws but actually know better. "Confusion about what the actual copyright laws are does account for a lot of error and many people are adamant that they are right" he says. "Bad advice from lawyers is one reason for this. Rumors [which thrive on the Net] are another. For example, a rumor that spread was that adult images are public domain and a lot of people believe that. Government documents are an example of public domain material; private adult photographs are not."
The consequences of copy infringement can include monetary penalties and beyond. "Many offenders believe that because they don't have a lot of money in a the bank, the person who owns the image won't sue. A lot of people don't know what all they can lose," he says. Violators of copyright law can be sent to prison if the offense is great enough. Any theft over $2500 can be tried as a felony. While this may sound like a lot of money, consider that the court recognizes every photograph as having an undisputed intrinsic value of $1500, which the American Society of Media Photographers set back in the 80s. This means that the theft of just two images can be considered a felony.
Life in the post-Posse days has been tamed somewhat and procedures are formalized. The organization has expanded to include close to 150 members in over a dozen countries. Membership in the Ft. Lauderdale-based association is $100 for adult Websites and $250 for content providers. One of the benefits of membership in APIC is in the form of legal protection against copyright infringement "by one of the finest Intellectual Property Attorneys in the United States," David Loundy of D'Ancona & Pflaum in Chicago. Easton says he gets five to 10 copyright infringement complaints every day, mostly from loyal members. When a complaint is made, APIC checks it out and when an actual violation is found, APIC notifies the infringer(s) via an E-letter with a digital signature. Easton says that 95 percent of the offenders respond to the letter and change their ways. For the five percent who don't, APIC Worldwide will file a lawsuit against them.
Thus far, the association has been successful with its suits. "We've won eight to nine cases and have six or seven in progress," Easton says. He adds that because most businesses don't want the bad publicity associated with these cases, they usually settle out of court. "We haven't lost a case yet," says Easton, "and only one was thrown out for lack of evidence."
Non-members can also benefit from APIC by visiting their site at www.a-w.org to peruse copyright information, to get legal references, to link to APIC member sites and more. Their homepage says that "real world ethics and civility must prevail to preserve and forever ensure a self-regulated and healthy business climate. We invite you to join our cause and help us bring law and order to the Wild, Wild, Web."
Guess all the old "Web Posse" ways don't die so easily.
