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are you sure you have NO reason to wonder?  It seems strange, the thread that your brother(?) started has been locked.

I put there another post in different category:

http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43791

1) I can't found any phone numbers on the site
2) Im not from US, and my english is not so strong

That's a really nice portfolio, If this was a per sale site you can bet they'd be getting back to you fast -- because you'd be making them a lot of money!. I hope they get back to you, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't. They're known for not bothering to reply to contributor emails.
Please post back to let us know what happens!

As a last resort you can wright to them By Snail Mail
Shutterstock
155 W. 19th St., 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10011

By Fax
1-347-402-0710

Your portfolio is absolutely great. Unless you stole all of it and murdered the original artist, what SS has done is totally unforgivable. Unfortunately, this is not the first time we see this kind of action from them, and for some reason, their communication with the contributor is anything from minimal to non-existing before it happens.

I'll stick my nose out and chime in on you thread at SS.

No, all portfolio is made by myself - i have all the .ai files, I have a history - most of them are made from parts of my previous illustrations...

But also i read some topics about similar problems here on the forum and im not so optimistic now. Because it is really easy to draw some similar illustration...

Thanks for helping me!

THANKS!

I sent them a letter also....

SS is way too trigger-happy with deleting portfolios. Even in cases where someone stole an image, their action is too harsh. All it takes is an allegation of theft, of even one single image, and they immediately yank entire portfolios. So in theory, if you don't like someone, don't want them as competition, etc., all you need to do is write in and say that they stole an image, and poof, their portfolio is gone.

I reported someone who copied one single image. One lapse of judgement in what was otherwise a good, original portfolio. I figured that SS would delete that image. Instead, they immediately deleted the entire portfolio. The guy didn't deserve that, and ultimately got his portfolio reinstated, but SS's action was far too severe and didn't even allow the guy any chance to delete the image himself or even defend himself. I thought by reporting an infringement that I was doing the right thing, but now I question whether or not I'd ever do it again. If it was a portfolio entirely made up of stolen images, then obviously I'd report it. But a single image? Not sure anymore.

Of course I'm not saying that this is such a case, and it seems like the OP is the victim of an error or false accusation. If it is a false accusation, though, this would only further support the idea that SS is too quick with the "delete" button.

I got first response on the forum:

This forum is for bug reports only.

We cannot publicly comment on the status of any submitter. Emails are sent when an account is suspended.

This thread is now closed. Further, posting again under someone else's identity could result in suspension of that person's forum account as well.

I really dont know, what to do:
- i didn't get any email (im looking into spam folder regulary, all other emails from shutterstock were delivered ok)
- now i can't publicy comment  on the status of any submitter. Emails are sent when an account is suspended.


Ha... some email from shutterstock comes ... finally!

Here it is:

Dear Petr,

Shutterstock Images LLC ( "Shutterstock") has been contacted by an individual or entity that claims that an image in your Shutterstock portfolio belongs to that individual or entity (SS#14332861 - Set of green labels badges and stickers with recycle icons).  The person making the complaint is requesting that Shutterstock take appropriate steps against you.

Prior to taking any further steps, we are inviting you to respond to this claim.

At the minimum, please let us know:

a) where and when the image(s) in question was taken or created;
b) what program, if any, was used to generate or modify the image(s); and
c) if the image(s) was modified, where the original image was obtained.

If it turns out that the claim is without merit we will not take any further action and your account will remain active.
Please respond to this email by August 11, 2008.  If you fail to respond by said date with the information we outline above,
your Shutterstock.com submitter account may be closed.

It looks like the problem is this image:
http://www.dreamstime.com/set-of-green-recycle-labels-image5477928

I will add my reply soon...

Wow, are you saying that they have just now bothered to send you the email?

I think some of those might be copyrighted e.g. the "keep X country tidy" man.

If this is the problem they are having then it's obviously a genuine mistake, they only needed to review the rest of your folio and record to see that you wouldn't purposely jeopardize your earnings with them.

If not then the images are so generic I don't see how anyone could claim it's a copy of their work unless the file is identical.

They should take these points into account (if they gave a cr*p about their contributors, which they clearly don't)