It’s very rare to see a CPA Network come forward and air their dirty laundry and even more rare to make public apologies when you screw up. This past week, I screwed up and I screwed up big time. Even though I had no idea this was going on before I was notified, it’s still a screw up.

Shoemoney sent me a Cease and Desist while I was at Adtech for a publisher using his image on offer landing page. I had already read about Jeremy having problems with this and I should have done a pre-emptive strike by searching the network to see if this was going on but I never even thought about it.

I immediately notified the publisher that using copyrighted images are unacceptable. Listen guys, when a network receives a cease and desist like this we have to immediately notify you of the violation. According to certain Terms of Service you can possibly be terminated from a network and a lot of times your earnings are kept by the network. There are sorts of loopholes in network Terms of Service for how you can get screwed over from your network but that does not negate the fact that using copyright images without permission is definitely wrong and can have consequences.

When a cease and desist is issued there can be all sorts of demands. I wont go public with this one because currently the image has been taken down and I have offered my cooperation into a closure of the C&D. Just know that when you use copyrighted images without permission, you risk all sorts of trouble that can come of it.

I would like to publicly apologize to Jeremy for this incident. I’ve had the priviledge of meeting Shoe in Vegas at the summit and I am a daily reader of his blog. To receive a C&D from Shoe was like a kick in the balls. However, it should have not even gotten that far and had I known that his image was being used I would have taken care of it immediately. In light of this situation as a network we are putting more focus and attention with publishers so that copyrighted images are not being used without permission.

In the light of everything, there are certain processes that sometimes have to be handled in a certain manner and I fully plan to cooperate with any more issues that are concerning to Shoemoney Media. This apology is not an attempt to worm our way out of anything that Shoe feels should be still discussed or taken care of. We will still do whatever it takes to bring closure to the situation should there be anything else but since Shoe fishes with dynamite I wanted to issue a public apology to him.