Sadurski.com investigated the „company” Copytrack, which is run by a certain Marcus Schmitt from Berlin. A self-proclaimed defender of copyright demands money from people from all over the world who have websites for published photos. For example, those for which they had already purchased the copyright or took them from free image banks, which they were entitled to do. What is the procedure of a person who boasts on Instagram about exotic trips that many honest bloggers can only dream of? How much money does Schmitt earn and how much could he earn if he follows his dreams? We are the first in Poland to present the practice before many more similar „companies” emerge and harass webmasters every day
Pay for a free photo
You have a website, you do everything honestly, suddenly you receive a serious-sounding e-mail in English, with threats and a bill for over EUR 700 or, for example, EUR 1,800. Because apparently you posted someone else’s photo without permission and now its author or the company that supposedly has the copyright to this photo has been found. Any honest person will get scared or panic at first. Maybe some people will pay for peace of mind. But you quickly become sober and ask yourself: isn’t this about fraud? An attempt to extort a large amount of money? And this SOMEONE only claims that he has the rights to the photo, but does not even try to verify it. For example, it gives the name of an (alleged?) company, and many different companies in the world operate under this name.
You always take care of copyrights, and if you organize photos that go on your website – you always use a bank of free photos or paid stock and always buy the appropriate license. Are you someone like that? Doesn’t mean you can sleep soundly.
There are more and more „companies” that conduct such „activities” on the Internet. More and more often, a webmaster or blogger receives similar threats, which means that it is about easy money. Only the name, website and account number to which you have to pay your money change. Unless scammers (because they are probably always scammers) manipulate strangers from different countries of the world and effectively scare them.
If only two people pay out of 100 e-mails sent in a month, someone will earn PLN 1.5-3 thousand. euro, let’s say 6-12 thousand. zlotys. If he sends 500 e-mails and every tenth person pays, he will earn, say, half a million. Do you already know that it is good „business” and why are there more and more fraudsters involved in it?
How Copytrack from Berlin cheats on „copyright”
A few years ago, German Marcus Schmitt founded the Copytrack company and website for a noble purpose: fighting piracy on the Internet. We have not checked in detail, but we assume that such a company actually exists (the VAT number is currently active). In fact, it is registered in the European Union, operates in Germany and pays taxes (pays? As you will soon learn, it has annual losses!). So he’s probably not „someone” from Africa or America, where many people don’t even know what the European Union is.
The law in Poland and Germany (generally in the EU) is the same, and lawyers (if they are actually lawyers and not fraudsters) operate according to the same principles. A real lawyer does not start by scaring you and telling you that you have broken the law and you have to pay for something. And that it was him – just because he says so. The lawyer carefully examines the case, makes sure that he is right and can prove it, and finally sends a pre-trial letter by post (not e-mail!) to the address of the company’s headquarters or website owner. Takes actual, time-consuming and legal actions. Therefore, do not fall for tricks that have little to do with the law.
Assuming that there is a certain Marcus Schmitt and his photos are not generated by artificial intelligence… Perhaps initially, like Bill Gates, he actually wanted to change the world. Become an intermediary between photo authors and websites that violate their copyrights and, at the same time, get paid a very good fortune as an intermediary. However, it quickly turned out that the authors who approached him were disappointed. They were supposed to be protected, they were supposed to get money. Comments on the Internet show that there are many disappointed authors.
However, Copytrack still sends hundreds of payment requests and works. And it has huge losses of hundreds of thousands of euros a year (details in a moment). If it was really bad business, the company would already have ceased to exist. Add a mountain of money every year and move on? Maybe Marcus Schmitt and his Copytrack are a business miracle worker? In Poland, the relevant offices would have become interested in such a miracle a long time ago. Or maybe he has other businesses, so he has something to contribute to? We haven’t checked it, but if anyone would like to check it, we will be happy to write a second article about this miracle from Berlin.
We have written about disappointed authors who express their condolences against Copytrack on the Internet. But there are others and we will write about them soon. Those who allegedly violate copyrights when they do not violate them. How to prove you are not a camel? Should you pay several hundred euros to someone you don’t know, whose e-mail has little to do with legal jargon, and the content is only intended to frighten and confuse you? It smells terrible and looks like a scam.
Does Copytrack actually exist?
We were curious if something called Copytrack actually existed. And because the data below is publicly available, anyone can find it on the Internet. It’s no secret to anyone that…
Copytrack GmbH (a limited liability company) was registered in Berlin by the District Court Charlottenburg (Berlin) HRB 173269 B. Its official address (unless it has recently changed) is: Dresdener Str. 31, D-10179 Berlin. The company’s capital is: EUR 32,086. A very modest amount for a company that wants to be considered a global copyright tycoon.
As of the end of 2022, the value of Copytrack GmbH was over one million euros. More precisely: 1,002,763 euros. There is also a significant debt: 788,281 euros. The annual deficit was -420,330 euros. Losses from previous years: −779,219 euros. It follows that the overall situation of the company does not look very rosy. But there are also capital reserves: 1,314,675 euros.
We will also add that in 2017, the company had a deficit of EUR 591,875, and the next year it had a profit of EUR 846,809. Now it’s important: the next 4 years are the company’s deficit. 2019 – 233,092 euros. 2020 – 69,217 euros 2021 – 361,253 euros. 2022 – 420,330 euros. There is currently no data for 2023.
To sum up, the company is registered and operating. Its capital is modest, and in the years 2019-2022 its losses increased and exceeded PLN 420,000. euro. Whether these losses are increasing – only Marcus Schmitt and his accountant know for now. How does the company cover losses of hundreds of thousands of euros? We do not know.
But at the same time, on its website, Copytrack boasts of its cosmic successes: it has „won cases” in as many as 115 countries. Someone loves fairy tales!
By the way. On the Copytrack website, the address of the COPYTRACK GmbH company is Dresdener Strasse 31. Meanwhile, according to the Facebook profile (which was founded in 2017, last update: June 29, 2023, i.e. 10 months ago) – at Saarbrücker Straße 18. If anyone would like to check, both places are 3.7 km apart.
Marcus Schmitt conquers the world
Copytrack GmbH sends e-mails to the owners of various websites. The whole world, also to people and companies from Poland. Never mind the content of such an e-mail, we won’t bore you with it. We decided to get to know the „company” and the opinions about it on our own, and it’s easy to do that now. What did we find? Let’s start with the opinions on the profile, which can be easily found by entering: COPYTRACK GmbH, Berlin. Just a few, but they’re not flattering. And after summing it up, 1 star on a 5-star scale, which is poor.
– They have been writing to me for 3 months that I have violated their copyrights and if I quickly pay 500 euros, they will close the matter. – (…) I also think that if you have a case there as a client, things are not transparent enough.
– Garbage and fraudsters, the world would be better without you. We also found a real mine of knowledge about Copytrack GmbH and its activities. There are several dozen opinions here, which we will quote in excerpts below. Opinions of real people, Facebook users who received an e-mail about their alleged copyright infringement. Below are fragments of selected opinions.
– They send fake blackmail letters, trying to get you to pay for images you are already legally licensed to use.
– As a company, we received an invoice for a photo that we had verified and purchased from Fotolia and used in accordance with the local license terms. But that’s not all: when calling the Berlin number (…) no one answers.
– Fraud! Fraud! This company is trying to extort money. DON’T PAY THEM!
– This „company” is asking for crazy money to close „cases”.
1. They email people about illegal use of photos on the Internet, yet they hide their domain ownership information even though they claim to be a law firm. If it is a law firm, what is the reason for hiding its own data?
2. The numbers listed on their website do not work.
3. They email people about stealing and using „copyrighted” images even though they have no legal documents for their clients. Basically you can upload any image to their website and claim it as yours and they will start searching for images on the internet and sending random automated emails to those people. We only quote the above opinions. And since Copytrack didn’t remove them…
Rakesh Raman from New Delhi
The head of the humanitarian organization from the capital of India, a well-known Indian activist and journalist, Rakesh Raman, took the matter seriously. His foundation’s website reportedly used other people’s photos without consent. His counter-actions can be found on several websites. He wrote, among others: e-mail to the Berlin police, we quote fragments:
(…) In its criminal activity, Copytrack suddenly begins to extort money from website owners under threat, without even trying to explain whether copyrighted materials belong to their so-called customers. (…) The photo published here almost nine years ago comes from the AT&T/IBM press release (…). In the press release I stated: „Image courtesy of IBM.” (…). No one ever asked us to remove the photo. (…).
More opinions about Copytrack
We reached a website where there are a lot of similar, extremely negative opinions about the German company Copytrack. And they are even more interesting. Below are a few fragments of opinions – only from recent weeks. The number of opinions and comments on these opinions, written by people from all over the world, in various languages, is astonishing. And it shows the scale of the procedure. We didn’t even try to read it all, it would have taken several days. We have translated the comments below into Polish.
– They emailed me an infringement notice for a photo I legally licensed. This means they haven’t done any research and don’t have any reliable data. This is pure fraud.
– Copytrack sent me a bill for 1,863 euros for purchasing and using the photo. (…) I bought them from Istock for a few pounds, with a full commercial license. This company doesn’t even check the legality of image use and licenses!
– I downloaded the image in question from Pixabay and it is free to use. (…) Demanding money for a photo downloaded from stock sites in good faith is completely absurd. – The image they say is the problem is a stock photo, which can be found on most stock image platforms such as Shuttercock, Adobe, IStock, etc., and costs a few dollars there. They claim my client should pay $900 for this photo.
– This „company” sends false information that the associated image „may” be infringing. They claim to represent Company X. I have tried locating Company X and it does not appear to exist, although there are companies with similar names.
– Copytrack does not judge whether the use of a photo is legal or not. We are guilty until proven innocent.
– They continue to send threatening emails but cannot provide any proof that their „client” owns the photo.
– Copytrack sends automated mail for images you may have obtained legally (…). They provide no evidence for their claims. They just make you pay.
– A few days ago I received an email that I am using a photo owned by their client X. I checked, it is a fake name and surname. (…) I searched for the photo on Google, checked where it was still available and discovered that it could be downloaded under a license and for free – from authorized stock photo sites. – After searching the Internet, I discovered that Copytrack regularly submits false claims on behalf of (x) for photos to which (x) does not own any rights. They even reportedly sent one claim to Obama’s photographer to pay them for one of his own photos.
Attack on stock websites that sell photos
This conclusion comes to mind: the actions of the Copytrack company from Berlin also affect the finances and development of stock websites that provide paid or free photos for websites. If now every webmaster can download a photo from them for free or for a small amount of money, and in the future third-party companies may have to pay very large amounts of money for the same photos – why pay honestly for this service?
This is absurd, especially as Copytrack’s actions raise suspicions that it is a fraud. And let’s be honest: does every webmaster keep licenses for many years? For example, a computer disk failure or deleting your account from the stock website may result in the loss of confirmation of purchase and receipt of the license. Maybe that’s why Copytrack asks for money many years (5-10 years) after the photos are published on the website? No one here will say that it is about fighting piracy, but about cunning and deceptive earning money from honest webmasters. Because the honest ones will definitely manage somehow.
Sadurski.com and other Polish websites
Why did we write an article about Copytrack and Marcus Schmitt? We are one of thousands of companies that also received such an email. But I don’t think anyone has written about this practice in Polish yet, so we are the first to do it. And we raise the issue to those who receive these types of e-mails.
We know where the photo Copytrack is asking for comes from and we know we didn’t steal it, but we don’t intend to prove anything remotely. And like many people, we have a rule that we do not click on any links in e-mails from unknown senders – simply for fear of viruses.
Therefore, we will be happy to meet Marcus Schmitt in court in Warsaw if we receive a lawsuit. Let him prove in a Polish court that the company he refers to actually exists and show the contract he signed with it. Let him say in the courtroom why he wants money for the same photo for the second time and why in the amount of several hundred euros. Why did he send an email in which he did not ask about the published photo and did not ask for its removal, but instead tried to intimidate. Marcus Schmitt – prove all this in a Polish court, because you’re not a coward, are you? Polish media will be happy to write about how nobly you protect other people’s copyrights. We will even send free press releases to portals around the world that will promote your business.
A few words of truth
There is nothing to support Copytrack (if it formally exists) and its owner. No authority or experience. Any more or less cunning fraudster can set up such a „company” and claim that he nobly fights against those who violate copyrights. He will gain approval and applause from some, because like a dreamy Don Quixote he wants to enslave billions of people around the world. He wants to murder millions of people who have their own blogs and websites. They should be afraid to post any photo, even if they use free photo resources or paid websites that sell rights to use photos, or even post photos they have taken on their website.
Suddenly, years later, each of these people can be contacted by Copytrack and Marcus Schmitt. And he won’t ask where you got the photo, but will immediately bill you for 700 to 1,600 euros (or more) for one photo. Why would you pay him? Anyone can claim that they have „rights” to the photo you published and will not even prove that this is actually the case.
How much you can earn from such a practice – we tried to estimate it at the beginning of this text. The main thing is that it will be enough for long journeys, which Marcus Schmit t boasts about on Instagram. Who do you think finances his travels? Do you want to co-finance them?
There are many clever people on the Internet who are looking for a place for themselves, to find a niche for themselves that will bring a fortune. Marcus Schmitt and his Copytrack shows that the idea is good. So webmasters around the world will soon be receiving more emails every day demanding payment. As long as there are those who allow themselves to be manipulated like children and will pay, there will be more and more such „companies”. Is this what internet freedom is all about? On everyone’s fear of making anything public? Because tomorrow, in how many years, more Copytracks and Marcus Schmitts will appear?
Millions and Billions
From Schmitt’s LinkedIn profile: „Over three billion photos are shared online every day, and surprisingly, 85% of them are stolen.” Smart Marcus Schmitt has sniffed out a gold mine. Every day, someone reportedly steals 2.55 billion photos and illegally posts them on the Internet. That’s 930.75 billion supposedly stolen photos annually. If he can find 0.01% of the losers, he will find 93,075,000 photos. If only 1% of them press the button and demand payment – that will be 930,750 photos to be paid. Modestly, Marcus Schmitt will receive 500 euros for each photo. It will earn over €465 million minus costs.
In short, Marcus Schmitt is a business genius and potentially one of the richest Germans. At least theoretically. But he is not a business genius since his company has a loss of several hundred thousand euros. Somewhere he overestimated, miscalculated, or maybe he really can’t stick to reality and is in the clouds?
At the end
Marcus Schmitt has an Instagram profile where he posts photos from various places around the world. Not only his hometown of Berlin, but also the USA (New York, San Francisco, Miami), Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Kuala Lumpur, Lisbon. Where he was before 2022 – we were no longer looking for that.
Does he travel around the world for money, the source of which we described above, and do these scared webmasters know about it? Or maybe the photos of him relaxing in the tropics are not his photos, but licensed photos? I wonder if he paid for them? Maybe one day another company will approach him, claiming that he is violating copyright law. What will he do then?
On the above-mentioned Instagram profile, Marcus Smitt, head of Copytrack, posted his motto in English: No pressure – No diamonds. Freely translated: Whoever doesn’t take risks doesn’t drink champagne.
Post Scriptum
Marcus, do you think any word in this article is untrue? Take us to court in Warsaw. You will become famous all over the world and very rich. Is that what it’s all about?
Copytrack and Marcus Schmitt in: (c) Sadurski.com
We did not sign fragments of the authentic, quoted opinions because we are not sure whether their authors would like it. The above column is satirical and we are not responsible for how anyone interprets its meaning.
Attention. The above authentic quotes may be inaccurate as the content from Polish was translated into English by Google Translator without any subsequent changes. We are not responsible for obvious errors and inaccurate translations.
