2nd Getty Demand Letter - Should I Be Worried?

[bulliedbygetty]

Today, I received my 2nd demand letter from Getty (I received the first letter back in January 2009) requesting that I pay $1,800.00 (with their generous 10% discount) for (2) images that they claim I stole from them.

I took down the (2) images in question after I received the 1st demand letter and followed the instructions to get my cached web content removed from the WayBack site.

I don't intend to respond to any of their letters or communicate with them in any way.  If they send me to collections for these (2) images, I will dispute the charges.

What are the chances of me being sued by Getty or having a settlement logged against me for not paying their extortion-like charges?

Has anyone actually been sued to-date by Getty over images they claim have been copyright infringed upon?

I agree with other posters that the most I would even consider paying would be $5-$10/each for the (2) images, since I've seen these images floating all around the Internet.

[rublev]

make sure to read a summary here:  http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/read.php?2,287

[Oscar Michelen]

Dear bullied:

Getty has indeed filed lawsuits against several entities and we are in litigation with them now in NY over 38 images on our client's site.  They tend to sue those individuals with over 20 images, though the law would of course allow them to sue over one image as well.  They cannot put you  "into collection" and in addition to the summary referenced above, you should read the post about NCS Recovery (Getty's colllection agency) and being put into collection.

[jbigfoot]

I just received my Getty letter the other day, so I'm boning up on as much as I can.

I read the summary, as advised. But it appears that most of the information on this site -- including the summary -- is several years old. Can you tell us where things stand in the summer of 2013?

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

I just received my Getty letter the other day, so I'm boning up on as much as I can.

I read the summary, as advised. But it appears that most of the information on this site -- including the summary -- is several years old. Can you tell us where things stand in the summer of 2013?

Not much has changed, the language of the letter has changed a bit, Getty still rarely sues over 1 or 2 images. If you have a more specific question that would be helpful.

[brianjclark]

How have they not been shut down yet?! Are the "establishments" making that much money out of them they leave them alone?

Blimey it really does sound like racketeering, protection and underhand dealings

[jbigfoot]

Not much has changed, the language of the letter has changed a bit, Getty still rarely sues over 1 or 2 images. If you have a more specific question that would be helpful.

I guess my biggest concern was the 'reachdown'; that a couple of years ago they wouldn't bother dragging you into court unless you had several images but now you're saying that it could be as few as one or two. I only have one pic.

When/if they take you to court, which court is it?

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Chances are very slim they will file over 1 image, if they did it would need to be in federal court where you are located.

[jbigfoot]

Thanks for the info.

Actually, I'm impressed that anything could find such an obscure part of my web site! I doubt that many of my clients even found that page.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Thanks for the info.

Actually, I'm impressed that anything could find such an obscure part of my web site! I doubt that many of my clients even found that page.

Getty's Picscout bot rummages thru every directory, pulling and comparing images...eating up loads of bandwidth looking for alledged infringements...

[Oscar Michelen]

Its a hell of a program which is why Getty paid $20 Million for it!

[brianjclark]

Like most things, that $20 million is an investment. I wonder how long they plan to recoup that?

I guess only they will know the "numbers" but its interesting to speculate.

[Oscar Michelen]

The way they crank out those letters, it won't be too long before they make their money back. And owning the proprietary rights to the program doesn't just eliminate the middle man, it increases the company's value as PicScout can't jack Getty up or simply pull the plug on their relationship.