Corbis Image $18,000 Fine ?

[infoseeker]

First off - This is an excellent forum that provides help and support.

Situation:
I am a middle man business who helped a client with a website from a company in India. After over a year my client got a letter from Corbis about 5 images used in his site [a letter with screen shots]. Yes, we took down these images right away but this doesn't seem to stop here.

My client got a letter from Meltzer & Grant (Portland) that they could settle this outside the court for $18,000 . While I understand that a mistake has been made but $18,000 for 5 images seems ridiculous.

Question:
1. Even though the letter and fine is targeted towards my client. I feel bad and will have to share the fine . But legally  am I fully liable ?
2. Is there a possibility this can be waived or negotiated ?
3. Should this be directed to the person in India or is it my client (owner of the site) and me who is the website provider from USA responsible ?

Thank you again for running this forum. This forum is definitely worth the paypal contribution !

[Matthew Chan]

Will you be willing to share you copy of the letter from Meltzer & Grant with us? We haven't seen this one before. We are happy to redact your name from it. It's hard to comment without seeing the actual verbiage.  You can email the letter to matt30060 at gmail.

[infoseeker]

Matt

 I just forwarded all communication - initial notification and settlement letter. Thank you.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Funny how I was just saying the other day that no-one has heard a peep from Corbis in ages, now this..

Note to self: do not mention unmentionables, lest they come out of the woodwork..My apologies for putting the troll whammy on you!

[Peeved]

What an insane demand amount! Seems they are worse than Masterfile!

I'm guessing that their images are "registered" as well? Is "compilation registration" an issue with them as well?

Glad we'll be able to see the info.

[Jerry Witt (mcfilms)]

infoseeker, you do need to read up and get educated about copyright and how it pertains to this particular scam. Research how to determine IF an image is REGISTERED and whether or not it is part of a compilation.

That $18,000 for 5 images is just INSANE. I hope your client has the guts to fight this.

As far as responsibility, it's really hard to say. Did you select the company that used the images. Did you pay them on their behalf. I don't think Corbis would go after you. However the client possibly might if he pays them off. (Again, depending on the specifics.) Instead of focusing too much on your exposure, I would focus on what the status of each image is, if it can be found elsewhere, and how much Corbis really sells these images for.

I'd also try and see if the company in India has a license and what they intend to do on your behalf. (Good luck with that. Maybe a good reason to "buy American" in the future.)

[Matthew Chan]

Actually, it is $18,000 for 4 images. I have the letter written by Meltzer-Grant law firm and it will be posted soon.

That $18,000 for 5 images is just INSANE. I hope your client has the guts to fight this.

[infoseeker]

Thanks a lot everyone.

I priced out the image . For a starter each image is already over priced compared to other stock image companies. The person in India says he got it fro a different site but there is no way to track back because there is no record on when or from where he got it. We'll see.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Hate to say this, but these Indian companies could care less about where they gather images and content, they could care less about copyright law, and they could care less about any issues their "clients" may have.. They only look to suck money from our economy into their economy.