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Author Topic: Bringing this to the media  (Read 6524 times)

bullynomore

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Bringing this to the media
« on: February 24, 2012, 02:35:38 PM »
Hi everyone:

I am glad I found this site.  I also have been dealing with Getty Images and Masterfile and my issue is that I had web designers in India who I had used for years for at least 50 of my own websites.  Well after being in business now for 8 years I too have been getting letters of outragious fees from GI and Masterfile.  Over a year ago I had received my first letter from GI and then a month later another letter from GI and a year later from Masterfile.  I removed images immediately as I did not know where they came from.  I specifically always told my designers to use royalty-free images and they confirmed that they used it from these CD's they purchased.  I am self educated about most business laws and did not have finances to afford an attorney.  Before I do something I always do research of what's the right thing to do.  I worked very hard to start my online businesses and never received finances or money from anyone else.  When I first got started I used to work in the Corporate world and at night I was building my ideas and websites.  I worked 20 hours a day, 7 days a week (still today) just so I could build my ideas. I am a woman and originally from Europe and my family depends on me to send them money every month.  The economy effected me just as everyone else and I have been trying to hold on hoping everything will get better.  I did not hear from Getty Images for about a year and now they contacted my attorney again and given final notice to pay up or they will pursue legal action.  I am fed up with their behavior and everything that I have been reading here in the forum.  I am fedup with being scared and worried to loose everything that I have worked so hard for.  The issue I have is that I used so many different designers over the years that I can not even remember who has designed what.  My other issue is also, what if I pay up as they request but down the road they find more and more images and it would seem that I have to pay up for the rest of my life.  This is just so rediculous.  I am even afraid to do business or have anyone design marketing flyers and all this is effecting my business and sales.  Something bigger must be done and I am here not to complain but to see what we can do to bring this to the media.  I live in Los Angeles and I have an unlimited press release account and I am wondering if anything has been done about this issue to bring it up to the media or TV.  I feel that something must be done to change the law for innocent people.  I have not done anything intentionally and this would force me out of business.  I support the copyright laws.  I have actually dealt with this myself once because someone copied my own website design but what I did was sent them a cease and desist letter.  I did not want to take them to court - I just wanted them to remove my designs and after that I was happy.  I think Getty Images and Masterfile are greedy and one day it will hit them too - at least I hope so.  Why can't they just send a cease and desist letters.  In my opinion they are abusing the copyright laws for the purposes of revenue generation. And scaring and bullying small businesses who are already struggeling in this tough economy seems a bit harsh and in my eyes unforgiving.  That's why I want to do something to bring this to the media.  My question is - has anyone tried to bring this to TV or newspaper?  I hope to get some responses here.

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2012, 03:06:48 PM »
With that many domains ( if they are stil online) it would be in your best interest to be proactive in protecting your self from future letters.. Oversees developers could care less about our copyright laws, and chances are they did not have a "royalty free" cd, but rather just grabbed images off the net. I would strongly suggest removing any and all images that you do not have a license for, if you don't want to go thru that, you can try to block picscout from your servers, but there is no guarantee, this would be 100% successful.

As for bringing this to the media, I'm sure we would all agree it would be nice, but you also have to remember that the media is highly dependent on Getty Images, most news organizations don't even have photogrpahers on staff anymore, they all seem to use Getty. Watch CNN for an hour and count how many times you see their watermark on still images.
Most questions have already been addressed in the forums, get yourself educated before making decisions.

Any advice is strictly that, and anything I may state is based on my opinions, and observations.
Robert Krausankas

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Peeved

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2012, 03:48:40 PM »
Absolutely agree with Budd....First and foremost, PROTECT YOURSELF from any further demands by getting rid of all images that you are not 100 percent sure are "public domain". Not always an easy thing to do but it must be done. It may be helpful for you to check out the list of public domain sites listed here on the forum. Remember that "Royalty free" does not mean "free". Royalty free images may still require a license.

With regard to the media, it may be difficult but you won't know unless you try. What is the worst thing that can happen, they say, "no"?
« Last Edit: February 24, 2012, 03:56:01 PM by Peeved »

bullynomore

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2012, 04:22:30 PM »
Well I have been replacing many images that I did not know but I have so many designs and images were morphed and combined within the designs so it's not that easy to replace.  I have to redo all websites.  If I take everything down I no longer have a business.  This is my business and I have no other way to make money.  I have many sites who are free and just traffic generating sites - it's just impossible for me to know.  I can replace all but this took me 8 years to develop all so I can not even replace everything quick.  It's just impossible to do.  Because of the economy I am barely surviving and run much through credit cards.  I know the economy will get better but they are breaking me because I have attorney fees now.

I did block their crawlers and IP addresses however I am sure they will find other ways.  My goal with the media would be to bring attention to this matter.  Not necessarily to be against Getti Images/Masterfile but more so so others can know about this and learn and perhaps will get the attention from officials who can change the law for innocent people.  Why are they expecting for the majority of business people to know about all the details on copyright laws.   How can I even keep track of all images for about 50 websites.  When I first got started I never even thought about all this that years later they can come after you.  This is a nightmare to even keep track of any image.  They are killing the American Dream of being a business owner.  There are not enough jobs out there and small businesses are creating jobs for other people. 

I am just wondering what we can all do to get more attention in to the media - we should try and I am happy to use my unlimited press release account through prweb. If the media does not want to talk about this then we should try to do more Youtube videos.  I would like to hear from Matthew about future goals since he is the one who started the website. 

Jerry Witt (mcfilms)

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2012, 06:46:32 PM »
I agree with Buddahpi. The first order of business is to get your house in order. Don't worry about getting the word out to the media at this point. Do a thorough audit of your web properties. Go through the pages and remove or replace all images.

If that is not doable in the next few days, you may not need to take the entire site down. I'm sure there is a bit of css and javascript that would allow you to replace all instances of the img tag with a graphic of your own choosing. I would pick something like the circle with the diagonal line through it and add type saying "Image Removed pending copyright review." I would also take snapshots of your sites like this so you would be able to show a good-faith attempt at heading this off in the highly unlikely case any of this goes to trial.

You want to get the word out about what's going on with the stock agencies? this is a good way to do it. When people see your site stripped of images they will ask why and you can open up a dialog about what happened.

Meanwhile, if you do plan to purchase images, be advised that Getty owns iStockPhoto. So since you presumably no longer wish to do business with the company that is threatening to sue you, I would recommend Pond5.com or Depositphotos.com since both of them are independents. You can get images for a buck to 3 bucks each. In any case, keep your paperwork.

You could also use public domain and GPL-licensed stock for free. I put together a list of Public Domain and Free stock sites at:  http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/list-of-public-domain-stock-footage-companies/
But none of these sites indemnify you in any way. So there is some risk there. You would need to document where these images come from.  A third possible solution is to start shooting your own pics.

Once you get your sites straightened out, I think a campaign to make people aware of it IS in order. I just don't think you will be able to hit the big media outlets right away. I think awareness of this issue would be a grassroots effort. First individuals and small groups, then user groups and trade organizations and then industry-specific magazines (I could see an Inc. Magazine article "Is Your Website a Ticking Money Bomb?")

I know we'd all like to see a big expose on 20/20 or 60 minutes. But I think this issue is too small right now, even though it doesn't seem like it to us.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2012, 06:51:35 PM by mcfilms »
Although I may be a super-genius, I am not a lawyer. So take my scribblings for what they are worth and get a real lawyer for real legal advice. But if you want media and design advice, please visit Motion City at http://motioncity.com.

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2012, 06:49:58 PM »
I'm liking this image replacement idea, I just might do this on my site, but instead of placing "image removed for copyright review" I'll use "image removed to boycott stock image copyright trolls" even though "my house is in order"..
Most questions have already been addressed in the forums, get yourself educated before making decisions.

Any advice is strictly that, and anything I may state is based on my opinions, and observations.
Robert Krausankas

I have a few friends around here..

Jerry Witt (mcfilms)

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #6 on: February 24, 2012, 06:54:57 PM »
See THAT would be cool. If several hundred webmasters did this for one day, it COULD make a difference. AND it could get media attention. I bet a lot of medium-sized businesses have been hit by Getty and MF and if it were easy enough, I bet many would be up for swapping out their images. I know I would do it and I have about a falf dozen clients that may be up for it.

It would be like when Wikipedia and Digg went "Dark" to protest SOPA and PIPA. But in this case, the site wouldn't go dark, just the images.
Although I may be a super-genius, I am not a lawyer. So take my scribblings for what they are worth and get a real lawyer for real legal advice. But if you want media and design advice, please visit Motion City at http://motioncity.com.

SoylentGreen

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #7 on: February 24, 2012, 06:56:35 PM »

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #8 on: February 24, 2012, 07:32:14 PM »
@SG is that your image? if so can I have express written permission to use it in a blog post?
Most questions have already been addressed in the forums, get yourself educated before making decisions.

Any advice is strictly that, and anything I may state is based on my opinions, and observations.
Robert Krausankas

I have a few friends around here..

lucia

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #9 on: February 24, 2012, 10:17:01 PM »
I'm sure there is a bit of css and javascript that would allow you to replace all instances of the img tag with a graphic of your own choosing.
Do it in .htaccess.

SoylentGreen

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #10 on: February 24, 2012, 10:20:10 PM »
It's a parody of an existing "corporatism" poster.
So, there's some similarities to an another image.
Knowing how some are these days, it might be risky to use it on your blog.

S.G.

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #11 on: February 25, 2012, 10:12:51 AM »
Well in that case I'll just link to it... I'll be replacing some images on my site, and am going to see if I can get some clients to do the same..

Most questions have already been addressed in the forums, get yourself educated before making decisions.

Any advice is strictly that, and anything I may state is based on my opinions, and observations.
Robert Krausankas

I have a few friends around here..

SoylentGreen

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Re: Bringing this to the media
« Reply #12 on: February 25, 2012, 10:58:39 AM »
Please do link!!  I think it's a stitch. lol!!
I like yours too.

S.G.


 

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