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Author Topic: Asking Getty to change future communication to me - am I asking for trouble?  (Read 10498 times)

Cooter

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Hello all, first post here as another victim of the Getty extortion letter.

I have a similar background as most of these go, however, it’s my mom who is getting contacted for a few images found on her salon’s website.  I built her a simple 7-page static website for my her beauty salon in 2004, just to give her a “presence” on the web listing her services, pricing, and contact info.  She’s a one-woman small-business who owns the salon and performs all services herself – mainly skin and nail care.  I’m by no means a web-designer, I’m just savvy enough to build basic pages in Dreamweaver, and found some images on the web that were good fillers for her page.  “Woman on phone” and “manicure” were some of the simple images that I found, that Getty is now claiming are theirs, 8 years later.  (By the way, I’ve documented other sites that these images are currently available on as well).

She got her first letter in September, and didn’t know what it was so she threw it out.  Her second letter arrived in November, to which she brought to my attention.  Like everyone here, I found a lot of resources online about this whole ordeal and decided that it was best to just remove the site altogether – which I did in December of 2011.  I would be amazed if she gained even 5 clients from the site in the 8 years it was up, but it made my mom feel like she had “made it”, so it’s really too bad that a nice gesture on my end has to be spoiled by such a nasty, and relentless action.

That said, my question revolves around the mental agony my mom is currently going through, thinking she’s “breaking the law” and will be sued for everything she owns if she continues to ignore these letters.  She just got her third letter with the “legal” document from Timothy B. McCormack, and I know the next steps will be phone calls.  She is scared out of her wits, and no matter what I say to her she does not have the strength to stand up to these people and wants to investigate hiring lawyers to handle this for her.

We have not called or written Getty to date, however, now that I’m somewhat educated on the subject, I wish they were contacting ME instead of my mom.  So, that’s my question.  Has anyone been successful in contacting Getty on behalf of another party receiving their first communications, with the only goal being to change the focus contact point to someone else?  Is this basically what Oscar’s letter does?  Like all, I have no intention of paying what they are asking for and would actually welcome the chance to state my case in court.

Part of me wants to write them a scenario of the situation, ask for the licenses of the said images, and request that all future communication be sent to me.  Would this work, or am I asking for trouble?  Look forward to all feedback!

Jerry Witt (mcfilms)

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First, keep reading this site and educating yourself. Please tell your mother that she didn't break the law. You did. But ultimately she is responsible because the site is registered in her name (I presume). The bottom line is you are not allowed to use another's work (art, photography, writing, etc.) without permission.

That said, there are a couple of avenues for you to take. The first thing I would consider doing is hiring Oscar on her behalf. You spend a couple hundred bucks, but Getty cannot contact her.

If you decide to go it alone and fight this, see if you can buy these same images elsewhere. But keep in mind that Getty can and will continue to pester your mom.

Don't waste your time trying to explain your mom's situation. Getty does not care and it will have no effect in reducing their claim.
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.

Matthew Chan

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Your mother will be her own worst enemy. It is very difficult to help someone who becomes irrational and overly emotional.  It is very difficult to help someone who can't get it together. Hiring Oscar will be the easiest solution since she will not listen to reason or get educated.

Randomly hiring lawyers without qualifications and spending crazy money on legal fees is stupid.

It really doesn't matter what YOU are willing to do. They are targeting your mother and she is the one getting the letters.  The best thing you can do is just offer to pay for Oscar's services and then go from there. If your mother gives you permission to speak on her behalf, that will be good.

That said, my question revolves around the mental agony my mom is currently going through, thinking she’s “breaking the law” and will be sued for everything she owns if she continues to ignore these letters.  She just got her third letter with the “legal” document from Timothy B. McCormack, and I know the next steps will be phone calls.  She is scared out of her wits, and no matter what I say to her she does not have the strength to stand up to these people and wants to investigate hiring lawyers to handle this for her.

We have not called or written Getty to date, however, now that I’m somewhat educated on the subject, I wish they were contacting ME instead of my mom.  So, that’s my question.  Has anyone been successful in contacting Getty on behalf of another party receiving their first communications, with the only goal being to change the focus contact point to someone else?  Is this basically what Oscar’s letter does?  Like all, I have no intention of paying what they are asking for and would actually welcome the chance to state my case in court.

Part of me wants to write them a scenario of the situation, ask for the licenses of the said images, and request that all future communication be sent to me.  Would this work, or am I asking for trouble?  Look forward to all feedback!

I'm a non-lawyer but not legally ignorant either. Under the 1st Amendment, I have the right to post facts & opinions using rhetorical hyperbole, colloquialisms, metaphors, parody, snark, or epithets. Under Section 230 of CDA, I'm only responsible for posts I write, not what others write.

Cooter

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Please tell your mother that she didn't break the law. You did. But ultimately she is responsible because the site is registered in her name (I presume). The bottom line is you are not allowed to use another's work (art, photography, writing, etc.) without permission.
 
Believe me, lesson learned.  The site was registered to me actually, but they've still been contacting my mother because that's the only number and address they have from the website.  They've actually yet to contact her by her name.  They've only been addressing the letters to the salon's name, and "attention: legal department".


You spend a couple hundred bucks, but Getty cannot contact her.
I guess this is what I want to make sure of, as Oscar's letter seems to make the most sense.  Should this ever go to court, I would certainly be the one representing the scenario.  I just want this mental anguish to be deflected from my mom, as she had no part in it.  As Matthew states below, my mom is most definitely her own worst enemy - she's the perfect candidate for what Getty is targeting.


Your mother will be her own worst enemy. It is very difficult to help someone who becomes irrational and overly emotional.  It is very difficult to help someone who can't get it together. Hiring Oscar will be the easiest solution since she will not listen to reason or get educated.

Randomly hiring lawyers without qualifications and spending crazy money on legal fees is stupid.

It really doesn't matter what YOU are willing to do. They are targeting your mother and she is the one getting the letters.  The best thing you can do is just offer to pay for Oscar's services and then go from there. If your mother gives you permission to speak on her behalf, that will be good.
 
Thanks Matthew.  She has given me permission to speak on her behalf, but then she becomes irrational again and wants to continue looking for local legal representation - which I know is the wrong direction.  Having to educate a brand new attorney on this entire scenario and what Getty is doing would probably cost more than just the few thousand dollars they are looking for.  I need to just let her know that I've taken action, so she can rest.  This is essentially what Oscar's letter does, correct?

Thanks again for the help and information.  It's not much, but I just made a small donation to this site as I'm sure it's helped a lot of people in a similar situation.

Pacopag

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Hi.  I'm in a similar situation.  The letter is addressed to my friend for whom I built the site, but the domain is registered in MY name.  I would like to take responsibility for this matter, so that my friend never has to hear from Getty again.  So I'm going ask the same question, should I ask Getty to address further correspondence to me? Will they listen, considering I do, in fact, own the domain?

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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Since I've been involved in the Getty Extortion Demand Letter campaign, they usually went after the domain owner, if the domain has a private registration, then they would go after whomever is listed on the site itself, either way you look at it, they go for the low hanging fruit, and are most likely getting tired of those that fight back. So even if you tell them you own the domain, they're going to pick the softer target, it's all part of the their little game.
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..

Pacopag

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Well, I guess that if my friend simply ignores all correspondence, they would have no choice but to deal with me.  I don't know much about law, but I'm guessing that they can't really touch him if the domain is registered to me.

I'm very reluctant to actually send my letter to GI.  I just read over Matthew Chan's documentation of his case, and I noticed that he never once agrees to or offers any amount of money.  My plan was to try to settle on something a little more reasonable, say, something close to the actual cost of the license.  Am I making a mistake?

Also, should I use registered mail, or is email good enough.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2012, 02:39:11 PM by Pacopag »

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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I would NOT email them! why make it easy on them?! Lend them spend more time and effort and money! Now until offering a settlement..

If they are asking for say $1000.00 and you offer them 50.00 they will refuse, but if you offer them say 800.00, they'll probably take it in a heartbeat.. the question is WHY on earth would you offer to pay 800.00 for an image they and others may license for 50.00 per year?? even if you used it for 2 years, thats still only 100.00!

That's like blockbuster renting you a movie for 5.00 per day, but charging you 50.00 for everyday it's late, they can only rent that copy of thatmovie to one person per day, so they wouldn't be losing that much. These are digital images which they can resell hundreds of times over, which just brings the value of that image down.. You need to do more homewrok before doing anything..Have you even looked to see if this same image is available on other sites?? Does Getty have "exclusive" rights to this image?? Does the photographer still have a contract with Getty?
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..

Pacopag

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Thank you again for replying.  The amount they are asking is $850.  What I find crazy is that GI is charging $366 for three months of usage.  Who in their right mind would pay over $100/month just to have a second-rate image on their site?  I did find that other stock image sites sell images for, like you say, more like $50 per year.

I did try to find the image on other sites, but I can't find it anymore.  Not even the site I originally got it from.  Is there a way to more effectively find the image on other sites?  What changes if I do find it elsewhere?

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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go to getty site and pull up the image in question, right click and copy the image URL, then go to google, click images and when the search bar appears, you'll see a little camera icon in the right of the bar, click that and paste the image image URL from getty in, it will pull up similar / same images.. This could show you that the image is available for sale on other sites, with prices that are more inline to what GI is demanding, this may also show that GI does not have exclusive rights to this image..you have to play the game on your terms and make it difficult for them.. you're understanding exactly what i'm saying about the demand amount..if you plan on making them an offer, offer what the image is worth, which is nothing close to what they are demanding..
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..

Pacopag

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Based on what you said to do, I would guess that GI does have exclusive rights.  At least they're the only ones selling it.

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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That still doesn't "prove" they have exclusive rights or even if the image is registered with the copyright office, which would greatly effect the amount they could legally collect IF they were to bring this to court and IF they were to win..they have to prove you are guilty, not the other way around
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..

Khan

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Do not assume anything with GI. They are not well organised. They mix up photographers and will give this to you in writing. I have got a letter where one of their Directors  testify that they have checked everything and everything is in order. The problem is that they mixed up the photographer. 

Just read everything carefully and do your research.

Kahn

Pacopag

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Thank you all so much for your advice.  I'll be sending my initial response tomorrow.  It got shorter and shorter the more I revised it.  It actually doesn't say a whole lot.  Just a few sentences.  I will be sure to keep you posted on any interesting developments.

Is it wrong or a bad idea to post correspondence between me and GI verbatim on this site?

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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well it is your correspondence to do with as you wish, will they like it??? NO they really don't like us at ELI being a thorn in their side, but the way i look at it is if your willing to fight you need to be prepared to get hit back.
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..

 

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