Max, did you try calling the number on their web page for questions about licensing? Did you try the e-mail for the Internet Licensing Information Department? Links are in this message. (I am so tempted to call these guys...)

A Publisher wants to protect the rights of his/her organization and the people they represent. S/he has engaged HFA/NMPA to do the enforcement. HFA/NMPA indicates protection of copyright holders rights is their goal. Everything's fine right up to the point where the goals stop and the action starts. Their methods remind me of other types of "protection" agencies. They threaten to sue instead of burn down your business. Same result. The main difference is that the other type of protection agency gives you a chance to pay up before they torch your place.

Not fair to blame A Publisher for the all the nastiness of HFA/NMPA lawyers, although s/he has to take a certain amount of responsibility for supporting them in doing what they are doing. If S/he tells them "I want you to license our works, not bash heads. These are prospective customers you're alienating," it seems s/he is doing the right thing. It took a lot of guts to post here. I'm thinking s/he (c'mon, you can at least give us a pronoun) expected abuse as opposed to discussion. It takes a lot of guts to continue to post. Does anyone wonder if A Publisher is posting anonymously because HFA/NMPA might be unhappy with him/her talking to us? ("Jeez - we're trying to scare the doodie out of them, and you're in there being all polite and reasonable? Knock it off and let us do our jobs!")