Famous letter in.... the Netherlands!

By way of another update from my corner of the world, ................... nothing to update

will post again the 3 months time but earlier should I get another letter.

As an aside, does anyone have a contact to a Dutch Law firm that could push this for us if necessary (basically looking for a Dutch Oscar :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2009 08:48PM by johnboy12.

On January 7th we received a new letter from GI (they haven't received payment).
We do not respond, we will see what happens.

Sylvain

Thanks Sylvain:

Still haven't found a Dutch firm willing to handle this as we are here in the States so we are waiting to see how it is addressed in your case. I think you are doing the right thing! Keep us posted.

Oscar

Hmm,

I received also today a letter from them for 3 images.

I downloaded them about 8 years ago (If I remember correct) in a free zip file containing some phpbb templates. And used them on my website. The they I think will not make them to win this case is simple.

In The Netherlands the law may be something diffrent then in the USA.

First of all I speak dutch, so I demant all copyright, terms of use and other legal notices in my own language so I can understand the technical talking with laws and rights.

Second, it seems to be a big scam letter. They already say you are guilty, but in the law it states you are not guilty untill proven otherwise, so they are judges to? The scare people with money without knowing if the people are making profit, are knowing that they are using copyrighted material, etc.

Thirth, Law states also you should settle this matter first. In the music business if you have a few audio tracks a warning will be done first, if you do not remove the material then you will get the bill, simple.

Fourth, As no Dutch law states that you will be delivered the the USA for some bad use of a few images (you are not a terrorist) I don't think they will make it the a law suite for a few images. They have more costs for a lawyer and law suite in The Netherlands then the pictures are worth. Since I speak dutch I can demant a letter / lawyer / judge speaking my language so I can understand my rights.

Fifth, Has anyone saw ever a copy of a legal copyright of one of the images? Didn't find anyone.

Sixt, Who says that the pictures where legally copyrighted at the time you used it?


Comments? please...

Getty does not register their images with the copyright office so you won't find them. I cannot comment on the rest as I am not familiar with copyright law in the Netherlands. What I can say is that to my knowledge Getty has not filed suit there ever over their images. I would take a wait and see approach before engaging them. You may find some info from some of the other posts about this issue from your countrymen. Good luck and thanks for the post.

Is their any known law suite in Europe?

I dont speak German, but I think this is a case where Getty sued in Germany and lost (because the defendant actually had a license I think):
[www.spiegel.de]

And I think this is be a German forum discussing Getty demands in Germany:
[www.abmahnwelle.info]

Since I read / speak / write perfect German I did some digging.

It seems they lost a law suite in germany because they couldn't prove a thing.

Interesting

By way of another update from my corner of the world, ................... nothing to update

will post again the 3 months time but earlier should I get another letter.

Hi guys,

Still no news here as well...

Naomi

Thanks gang - No news is good news

Sorry all, seems I am a little behind.

Another update.... nothing to update :-)

If anything does show up, I will of course post, other than that, I'll update again in 3 months time..

Thanks gang - No news is good news !

Hello,

Last week I also received a letter for the use of one image, costing € 455 incl VAT.
Since I was not aware of using this image at all I wrote a letter telling them that I was convinced not being guilty.

Today I received 2 emails, 1 containing the link of my webpage where I am using the image and 1 where they offer me a discount of 20% when I pay before the end of july, still an amount of € 380 excl VAT. And I have to remove the image immediately.
I run a little homebased company in the Netherlands and this is a lot of money for me. Years ago, someone developped my website. However I cannot hold him responsible.

I wonder what I should do now, cause I already responded once.

Somebody any advice?

Annelies

I don't know any lawyer in the Netherlands who I can refer you to but I can also state that I believe Getty has not filed any lawsuits there either. I would wait to see what they do next, but I would immediately take the images down.

Well, here´s another ´victim´.

About 4 years ago, I built a website for a client, a small beauty salon. I was 15 years old at the time (any chance this could help my case?), and just starting out building websites for clients. Someone told me that Royalty Free images were actually free, which I naively assumed to be true, and resulted in Me using Getty Images regularly. For the website of my client I used one picture from Getty on the front page.

A few days ago I received an email from this quite distressed client, reporting that she had received a €544 ($700) bill from Getty Images. This was actually the second email I received from a client, but since the first client had put up the image herself, I feel more responsible for the beauty salon case.

The picture was, of course, immeadiately removed from the website, but seeing from the many examples, this will have no effect.

I have advised the client to ignore the letter for now, as I am researching the possibilities. I am hoping to find something in the Dutch law similar to the 'innocent infringment', which is present in the UK law. Doudl: have you already contacted Getty demanding a dutch letter? If so, have they reacted?

From what I have read, it seems the best to wait. Are there any dutch people who have received notice from Getty Images after the second letter? I do not expect a lawsuit, but I wouldn't want my client to be bothered by collection agencies or anything similar.

I will keep you up to date, and any advice is very welcome.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2010 09:51AM by Jz.

UK copyright law does have protection for innocent infringers. In fact, in cases of innocent infringers UK law allows for no damages to be awarded. Getty has filed some lawsuits in the UK (see posts here about it) but its not clear that the defendants in those suits retained lawyers and fought the case or whether they merely defaulted.

I was actually talking about a similar phrase in the dutch law, I edited my post to be more clear. Haven't had any luck finding anything similar yet.

Don't know anything about Dutch copyright law but innocence as a mitigation to a damages claim just makes common sense so hopefully there is some section in the law that follows that logic.