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Author Topic: An Experiment Against Getty  (Read 149739 times)

Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #60 on: July 30, 2012, 08:35:54 PM »
Stinger,

I would offer one suggestion for any future letters or to anyone else writing a letter to their senator or congressman. I would share as much detail as you can about your personal case and tell your story is if you're telling your friend trying to win them over. While I am all for including the links to websites as support for your claim you still need to give a detailed story an account of what is happened to you, why it is unjust and how it fits the definition of extortion.

I also highly recommend sending these letters to your Senator's and Congressman's local office not the Washington office. The Washington office is deluged with mail from all over while your local office will take more interest in dealing with a letter from a voter in that local district as they are local themselves. Again you want to write your letter in an effort to win over the letter recipient and make them want to pass it on to the next higher level. If you send them a letter saying this is wrong go research it at these websites for proof they generally have neither the time nor inclination to do this as I am sure their desk is covered with letters that must be opened and sorted and processed in their job is to do this as quickly and efficiently as possible.

You may receive one rejection or you may receive a lot of rejections you cannot let that discourage you and must continue to keep fighting and keep sending letters until someone takes notice. I promise you it does happen and you will see results. Just be diligent and keep plugging away at it.

Just an update on my letter to my Congressman. 

I walked into work this morning to find a message that someone from my Congressman's office had called on Friday regarding my letter.  This got me excited.  Could it be this easy?

Unfortunately, when I tracked her down, she had some difficulty remembering the Friday call.  Then she came back with, "This office does not get involved in legal issues between companies."

I explained that I was not asking them to and that I could take care of my issues with Getty myself.  I explained that my reason was to alert them to the fact that, in my opinion, this company was using copyright law to extort money from individuals and small businesses and that our legal leadership needed to do something about it.  I pointed her to the web sites cited in my letter as proof that this was wide-spread.

Unfortunately, her response led me to only one conclusion.  "Throw out the incumbent delegates from my state in favor of someone who MIGHT care."

I knew this was too good to be true.  But it just means a longer fight.  I do think a deluge of letters to Congressmen might move this up the priority ranks a bit.  If anyone has the time and inclination, please help me take this message (in your own words) to Congress.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2012, 08:40:10 PM by Greg Troy (KeepFighting) »
Every situation is unique, any advice or opinions I offer are given for your consideration only. You must decide what is best for you and your particular situation. I am not a lawyer and do not offer legal advice.

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stinger

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #61 on: July 31, 2012, 09:16:55 AM »
Interesting Greg.  The whole reason that I didn't put a lot of detail in my letter was that I didn't want them to think that I wanted them to solve my issue.  I wanted them to realize that this is a very large (read national in scope) issue.  My situation, I can handle.  Instead, they read that I wanted them to intervene in my case.

I really like the idea of sending the letters to a local office.  I guess that is my next step.

i like the online petition idea.  With some of the Search Engine Optimization skills we have on this site, we could probably drive lots of people to the petitions.

My letters went to:
The Honorable
Peter Roskam
The Honorable
Richard Durbin
The Honorable
Mark Kirk

Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #62 on: July 31, 2012, 12:56:08 PM »
In your next round of letters be sure to send them to your local offices and I would include the Washington AG office, the FTC, BBB and your states AG office. I would focus on the extortion angle while being honest and sincere telling your story as described above. Please keep me posted on your progress.
Every situation is unique, any advice or opinions I offer are given for your consideration only. You must decide what is best for you and your particular situation. I am not a lawyer and do not offer legal advice.

--Greg Troy

lucia

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #63 on: July 31, 2012, 10:02:02 PM »
My letters went to:
The Honorable
Peter Roskam
The Honorable
Richard Durbin
The Honorable
Mark Kirk
Both Kirk and Roskam? My rep is Judy Biggert.

Moe Hacken

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #64 on: August 01, 2012, 12:25:22 PM »
Pachomovsky and Stein discuss several possible remedies for the reform of current copyright law, which include punitive damages. You will find their suggestions towards the end of their paper:

http://www.law.uconn.edu/files/Stein.pdf

Specifically, they make this comment:

Quote
We propose that courts be given broad discretion to rule in appropriate cases that litigants have acted in bad faith or misused their legal rights.

There is some opportunity to lobby for the reform to other congresspersons. Something similar was going to be included with the Orphan Works Amendment. This proposed legislation is an attempt to correct copyright law to protect the good faith user in the case of so-called "orphan works". This protection could be tailored in such a way that it also protects good faith innocent infringers from legalized extortion and frivolous "strategic litigation."

Here's a short read about the Copyright Office's position on the Orphan Works Amendment:

http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/

This is a particularly important statement made by the Copyright Office:

Quote
... one of the basic tenets of the legislation is that the available remedy will be proportionate to the nature of the infringement. Reasonable compensation, a standard derived from a leading case on copyright damages, will usually be within the range an owner could expect to recover in an ordinary infringement suit.  And it should certainly reflect a reasonable license fee.

Unfortunately, the bill was passed by the Senate but it died in the House of Representatives:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/s2913

The congressmen who spearheaded the Orphan Works Amendment would be Orrin Hatch and Patrick Leahy. They may be interested in reading about the abuse of "strategic litigation" that has grown like an epidemic since this bill failed about 3 years ago.

Here's their info:

Orrin Hatch: http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2008/5/hatch-works-to-further-bill-named-after-utahn-shawn-bentley

Patrick Leahy: http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/senate-passes-leahy-sponsored-orphan-works-bill

The Copyright Office would probably be very interested in your complaints as well:

http://www.copyright.gov/help/index.html#mailing

Thanks for your letter-writing efforts. I do think those have an effect because I've seen it work for other campaigns.
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Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #65 on: August 01, 2012, 10:23:02 PM »
Great post Moe! There's a lot of good information contained in it and I have skimmed through it but plan to go back over it in depth this weekend.
Every situation is unique, any advice or opinions I offer are given for your consideration only. You must decide what is best for you and your particular situation. I am not a lawyer and do not offer legal advice.

--Greg Troy

Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #66 on: August 02, 2012, 01:35:13 AM »
Well Getty responded today to my complaint filed with the Washington State Better Business Bureau. It was there typical form letter BS that they use when replying to any agency forwarding a complaint to them. It ended with the usual paragraph stating that Mr. Troy did not provide a valid defense yada yada yada, but I was able to catch them and call them out on some glaring omissions and out right lies that when put back in make my defense more than valid. Below you can find the original complaint letter, Getty's response and my reply to their response.

I also love the fact that they got my company name wrong it is Yeah We Do That not Yeah We Can Do That. They also got the amount they are asking for wrong they put in they want $8750 whereas their claim is for $875. Douglas Bieker in Getty Images are asshats and morons.

All of the documentation including the original letter, Getty's response and my reply to their response may be found here:

https://www.scribd.com/collections/3777294/Correspondence-with-Getty

« Last Edit: October 20, 2014, 10:43:34 PM by Greg Troy (KeepFighting) »
Every situation is unique, any advice or opinions I offer are given for your consideration only. You must decide what is best for you and your particular situation. I am not a lawyer and do not offer legal advice.

--Greg Troy

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #67 on: August 02, 2012, 06:49:12 AM »
Nice reply, something like this should also go to the AG to be added to the public record even thought they consider the case closed after Getty's response..
Most questions have already been addressed in the forums, get yourself educated before making decisions.

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Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #68 on: August 02, 2012, 08:42:05 AM »
Thanks Robert!

Everyone will get replies and follow-up letters.  I think all future complaint letters when round 2 starts up should end with:

"....and at this time Getty has not provided any valid proof of their claim....."
Every situation is unique, any advice or opinions I offer are given for your consideration only. You must decide what is best for you and your particular situation. I am not a lawyer and do not offer legal advice.

--Greg Troy

stinger

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #69 on: August 02, 2012, 10:07:54 AM »
Well done Greg!

Keep Fighting!

stinger

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #70 on: August 02, 2012, 10:25:08 AM »
Yes Lucia, it looks like we are neighbors.  I live in Oak Brook.

Moe Hacken

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #71 on: August 02, 2012, 12:05:38 PM »
Very nice, Greg! All points well made.
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lucia

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #72 on: August 02, 2012, 07:54:32 PM »
I'm in Lisle. Given how large the districts are I wasn't sure how far you would be. My mom is in Libertyville. My sisters are in Highland Park and New Lenox.

Oscar Michelen

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #73 on: August 05, 2012, 08:56:28 PM »
Nicely done Greg.  Even if the AG closes the case its worth making Getty go on record and have to address these complaints in writing.

Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #74 on: August 05, 2012, 10:29:45 PM »
Thank you Oscar, my goal is to show people that you don't have to sit there and take it as there are plenty of things you can do to fight back in the letter writing campaign is one. While I agree with you that the AG will most likely close the case my complaint will make at least number 58 and at some point we will reach a tipping point where they will investigate. The more people I can get on board and the more letters that go out the sooner this will happen.

Nicely done Greg.  Even if the AG closes the case its worth making Getty go on record and have to address these complaints in writing.
Every situation is unique, any advice or opinions I offer are given for your consideration only. You must decide what is best for you and your particular situation. I am not a lawyer and do not offer legal advice.

--Greg Troy

 

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