1st Getty Letter

[Dan74]

Hi Everyone.

Little bit of background.  I made a website for someone, pretty much pro-bono (My first one).  Screwed up, and searched for Free Stock Image and ended up using a getty one. From the clients perspective though, it is 100% unintentional as he had nothing to do with the design, is older, and is 100% illiterate in this stuff.

Well, as you can probably guess.... Letter was sent to client.
I'm in Canada.
Image has been removed, there is no record on any archive or google cache, site is brand new and prolly had less than 10 visitors.

I don't want to give much info openly on the forum as i'm sure the trolls read stuff, but plan to fight this on Canada's Fair Demand clause in the copyright act.  The website is non-profit, provides free education for vulnerable people in need, and generates no income.

ALso thought I would share the following resource.  I found this site, pretty much looks like it does what Getty's software does.
https://www.tineye.com/

Just upload an image, and it tells you everywhere it's in use.
The image I used is used in quite a few places, lots of international sites where I figure Getty won't bother, but a bunch in the US.  Since the image is RM, I can't imagine anyone paying there crazy fees.  I emailed a bunch of them asking about the image (Where they got it, pricing, just said I loved it and wanted to use it).  No reply yet though.

Anyways, will be nice to chat with you guys.  Seems like a cool forum, even under the circumstances we are all in. 
I've always wanted to learn more about the Law, I guess this is my chance. 

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

Welcome to the forum and the world of settlement demand letters.  Never trust a free image site, unless you shot it, bought it or can verify it is in public domain then don't use it.  There are greats sites out there like Pond5.com that offer quality images for as little as a dollar.

I appreciate you being a stand up guy and trying to take care of your client but I have seen this too many times before, unless you pay the full amount Getty will harass your client since they are the end user.  If your client is in the states then you can use Oscar's Defense Letter program and Getty can not longer contact your client directly, if not you can retain council in Canada (make sure they are VERY familiarwith copyright law.

You can fight it yourself but that will not stop Getty from pestering your client.

While Tineye is nice to see what is out there it does not tell you if the image it has found is registered or not.  While you can say it has found x number of images you have no idea how many are valid.

If you want to learn this is the place to get educated, read the forums and ask questions as there are a lot of smart people around here who have been through this too.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[lucia]

Greg is correct:
In the US, you as web designer have no legal standing in a dispute between Getty and your client. Unless Getty is paid, history shows us they will continue to request payment from their client. There is nothing a web designer can do-- other than to pay Getty for the client. This is a tough break for web designers-- but it is what it is.

I don't know what happens in Canada. If you and your client are both in Canada, you will need to consult a Canadian attorney. You might also want to do a search to find out whether Getty bothers to file suits in Canada-- because it may well be filing is not cost effective there. My impression is Canada's laws don't have all these draconian possible fines that sound scary-high and the owner has to show actual loss. But that's something you need to look into.