Subject:
Date:
From:
To:

Your Website Located at http://www.address.com
Month 00, 2000
You@Email.com 
ContactPerson@Violator.com

To whom it may concern:

Your website located at http://www.address.com contains graphics copyrighted to and owned by me as the creator of Site Name located at http://www.myaddress.com.

I very specifically state the terms of use for my graphics; these terms of use can be reviewed at http://www.yourterms.com.

Be advised that NONE of the graphics contained within my site are to be archived or displayed within a collection without my express written permission.

Your collection site constitutes the illegal redistribution of my copyrighted property.

Therefore, your use of my graphics within your “collection” site is illegal under copyright law and forbidden under my terms of use. You are taking my original art and providing it in an unauthorized collection. This is a breach of copyright law.

For all intents and purposes, you walked into an art gallery, stole images from the wall and placed them in YOUR art gallery with total disregard for the law. And then, you placed a sign on your front door basically saying that you knew the work was not yours to show but that you do not care, you are going to show it anyway.

Would this be acceptable in your real life community? Remember this simple credo: If it is illegal OFF the net, then it is illegal ON the net.

But why do collections such as yours come under such scrutiny and are treated with such negativity? It is very simple: All images (and all intellectual property) are copyrighted. When you place the original graphics of others in a collection, people may download from YOUR site without care or consideration of receiving permission from the original artist or giving credit to the original artist. Not only is it illegal but it simply is unethical.

For more information regarding the illegality and disregard for ethics concerning unauthorized collections, please see About Digital Collections at http://www.alc-web.com/collections/collections.html.

Therefore please consider this email as a cease and desist notice to remove all the graphics belonging to me from your website.

These graphics are: xwy.jpg at http://www.violatorsite.com; abc.gif at http://www.violatorsite.com

As a courtesy to you, I have chosen not to contact or copy your web host WebHostName with this initial notification.

I expect response to this email in a timely manner (72 hours – by Day, Month 00, 2000 at 12:00AM) either by the removal of my copyrighted images or via email stating your intentions.

Be advised that if no response is received, my next step will be to contact your web host (with my proof and sworn statement of copyright) as they may become involved in any legal action I may have to pursue to obtain compliance.

Please understand that this letter is not a warning or threat. It is being sent to you as part of a legal process that must be followed in an effort to maintain my legal rights. You can put an immediate stop to this process by acting in accordance with this offer of good faith.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Your Website Name
Reply to: You@email.com
http://www.address.com