A long time ago, when I was an irresponsible young adult, I traced a variety of pictures I found on the internet and subsequently posted them on a "blog" I made claiming I drew them. I stopped this a long time ago, but now one of the artists I copied has stumbled across the blog and is, needless to say, very angry. I have apologised and explained my faults, and have now erased the blog, but I now feel very threatened about legalities.
If she pursues a copyright infringement case, what could happen to me?
I am a minor and so is she.
Yes, your thoughtless and blatantly infringing acts, and your failure to realize them an immediately take your blog down, could get you sued for copyright infringement, and if there's a trademark involved, you could get sued for infringing that as well. You don't mention any actual timeframes, but it could be that you'd have a statute of limitations defense if your blog was posted online more than 3 years before the artist contacted you, and while it seems unlikely that your blog was noticed by the artist's consumers, if the artist found you, so could others.
If you're sued, you need to hire an IP litigator immediately, since if this artist copyrighted her artwork, the statutory penalities can be very high, and she'd also be eligible for an award of her legal fees. Minors are represented in court by their legal guardians, usually their parents - this woudln't be an obstacle to a lawsuit, although it would probably help with your "I was young and dumb" argument.
Disclaimer: Please note that this answer does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied on, since each state has different laws, each situation is fact specific, and it is impossible to evaluate a legal problem without a comprehensive consultation and review of all the facts and documents at issue. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship.
I agree with my colleague but you may be able to mediate this without having to go to the courts since both of you are minors. You will still need an attorney to guide you through the mediation and to set it up if the other person decides to sue. However your facts do not seem to indicate that she will unless you left something out.
The following gives an overview of the mediation process for your referencE:
http://www.mediate.com/articles/steppJ.cfm
