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Author Topic: An Experiment Against Getty  (Read 149490 times)

Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #255 on: February 14, 2014, 04:05:24 PM »
Okay, it is time for me to get my yearly update on complaints filed against Getty Images with the Washington State Attorney General's Office.  I will try and get my request in by Monday and as always will make the complaints available to all.
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 #256 on: February 15, 2014, 09:37:00 PM »
I filed the request tonight for complaints filed against Getty Images since my last request a year ago.

I also requested ALL complaints pertaining to McCormack IP Law, Timothy McCormack and Lauren Kingston.  I have never narrowed this down before but I am wondering how many complaints he has.  I still wish State Bar complaints were public record as I would love to see what McCormack Legal has filed against them

Here is a copy of the request for those who are interested.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/207332302/1-0-WTAG-Request-for-Records-Request
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 #257 on: March 02, 2014, 12:20:03 AM »
I received a reply back from the Washington State Attorney General's Office. Looks like it has been passed to the correct department and I should hear something more soon.

They said they can not find any complaints and the McCormack request, I have either phrased the request incorrectly or they are all lumped in with Getty.  I have many complaints that came along with the Getty requests in the past.  I will research this and possibly resubmit the request.

Here is a copy of the letter I received.

Quote
February 25, 2014

Mr. Gregory A. Troy
3023 Ash Court
Mason, OH 45040

Dear Mr. Troy:

This letter is to acknowledge your public records request which we received in our office via email on February 18, 2014.  You requested the following:

1.   . . . copies of all complaints filed against Getty Images of based in Seattle Washington for since January 2013 to present.

2.   I would also like copies of all complaints filed against McCormack IP Law of Seattle Washington (all complaints please) McCormack IP Law is based at 617 Lee Street, Seattle, WA 98109.  Records for this Law firm may include Timothy McCormack, Lauren Kingston.

Regarding category #1, we have searched our records and found that the only potentially responsive documents will come from our Consumer Protection Division.  Therefore, your request has been reassigned to Mr. Beck Meyer of that Division because they keep their own database of consumer complaints.  Mr. Meyer will contact you directly.  Please direct all further communication regarding this request to:

Mr. Beck Meyer
800 5thAvenue, Suite 2000, Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 389-3849 
CPRcontact@ATG.WA.gov

Regarding category #2, despite our search of the places likely to contain responsive materials, we were unable to locate any records of complaints filed regarding the entities named by you. 
 
The Headquarters' portion of your request is now closed.  If you have any questions, please contact the undersigned. 

Sincerely,
S. GREENE
Senior Public Records Officer
Public Records & Constituent Services

/sg

cc: Beck Meyer, Consumer Protection Division


-----Original Message-----
From: gregtroy@yeahwedothat.biz [mailto:gregtroy@yeahwedothat.biz]
Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2014 4:28 PM
To: ATG WWW Email AGO temporary
Subject: Contact AGO - Public Records Request

The following message has been submitted to staff at the Attorney General's Office.  While we make every effort to respond promptly, depending on the complexity of your request and the volume of messages received, it may take more time for our staff to respond.  We appreciate your patience. Please do not respond directly to this message the as ATG WWW Email AGO mailbox is unmonitored.  If you need to reach us again, please return to this form:
https://fortress.wa.gov/atg/formhandler/ago/ContactForm.aspx

Troy, Gregory A.

Email Address: gregtroy@yeahwedothat.biz

Address:
3023 Ash Court
Mason OH 45040

Address Type: Home

Phone: 513 XXX-XXXX
Phone Type: Home

Subject: Public Records Request

Message: Greetings,

I would like to request copies of all complaints filed against Getty Images of based in Seattle Washington for since January 2013 to present.

I would also like copies of all complaints filed against McCormack IP Law of Seattle Washington (all complaints please)  McCormack IP Law is based at 617 Lee Street, Seattle, WA 98109.  Records for this Law firm may include Timothy McCormack, Lauren Kingston.

Thank you in advance for your assistance and if you require any additional information please feel free to contact me.

Reagards,

Gregory Troy


Previous Contact: Yes
Date: 01/22/2013

Regarding:
Requesting complaints filed against Getty Images for the previous year.

Declared By Name and Date:
Name: Gregory Troy
Date: 02/15/2014

Submitted on: 2/15/2014 4:28:14 PM

Consumer protection issues constantly change, with new scams and threats emerging every week.  To be automatically notified, please consider signing up for one or more of our newsletters (https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/WAAG/subscriber/new) to keep up-to-date on the latest AGO news, opinions, consumer alerts, Ask the AG columns, and blog posts.

You can also follow us on the social networking sites Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/agowa), YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/washingtonago) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Olympia-WA/Washington-State-Attorney-General/72791983303).
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 #258 on: March 06, 2014, 08:10:01 AM »
I heard from the Washington AG's office.  They should have the latest round of complaints ready for me in about 10 days.  once I receive them I will get them scanned and added to my Scribd account so they may be viewed.
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 #259 on: March 07, 2014, 08:00:40 AM »
Quote
f all complaints filed against McCormack IP Law of Seattle Washington (all complaints please) McCormack IP Law is based a
Maybe you need to say that "make mention of" in "include mention to" or something like that? Because they may be filed "against" Getty, with McCormack acting for Getty.

Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #260 on: March 07, 2014, 08:25:26 PM »
If they are lumped in with Getty I will get those with the Getty Complaints.  A good percentage of the Getty complaints deal with Mr. McCormack. 

I was looking to see if any were falling through the cracks or if he had received any for the other companies he sends settlement demand letters out for.
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 #261 on: March 13, 2014, 04:48:32 PM »
I received a reply for the WSAG today and they will be sending me the complaints on file for the last 12 months.  I was informed that there will be 12 CD's sent out.  Last years request yielded 5 CD's so on the surface it looks like the complaints are increasing. 

I will be sending a follow up letter after all complaints are received and the data added in asking what the threshold is before a business is investigated.

If you would like to read the letter or any of the previous complaints they may be accessed here: http://goo.gl/bKLykL or here: http://goo.gl/gBS9CI

The complaints will be made available as they arrive.
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 #262 on: March 14, 2014, 06:06:15 PM »
Will the CD's permit text recognition?

Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #263 on: March 14, 2014, 08:59:52 PM »
They are PDF scans but I have the full version of Acrobat reader that will see the documents and convert them back to text.  I do this to all files before I put them on Scribd.

Will the CD's permit text recognition?
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 #264 on: May 12, 2014, 02:32:48 PM »
I have finally received the last of 9 CDs of complaints filed against Getty Images and McCormack IP Law from my public records request of the Washington State Attorney General’s office. As many of you know each year for the last three years there has been a request for these public records filed against these two businesses.

In the past I have just taken the complaints, removed the fluff (to see what I removed see below) then made the complaints available through my Scribd account doing nothing more than reporting on the number of complaints and commenting on one or two that stood out to me. This year I decided to combine all my data together making a master index of complaints so you can see at a glance when it was filed, who it was filed against and who filed it.

On June 18 of 2012 I launched an educational and letter writing campaign aimed at readers who like me, tried to negotiate with Getty but felt that they were being treated unfair, unreasonable and/or unethically by Getty Images and/or McCormack IP Law. It encouraged readers to take a stand and fight back by letting the Attorney General and other agencies know of predatory practices which I consider to be a form of legalized extortion. This campaign was acknowledged shortly thereafter by Getty Images when the following two paragraphs were added to their standard form letter response to complaints filed against them.

Quote
“The complainant characterizes our attempts to settle our copyright infringement claims as “extortion.” However, our communications with them do not in any way constitute “wrongful threats” within the meaning of extortion statutes. On the contrary, demand for payment and satisfaction of a legal claim is not wrongful conduct.

We understand that copyright law can be confusing; however, the campaign to file complaints against us is misguided and misdirected. We encourage review of the license compliance information provided on our website at: http://company.gettyimages.com/license-compliance/.”

While I agree with the statement that demand for payment and satisfaction of a legal claim is not wrongful conduct, I do strongly disagree with the practice of demanding more than an image is worth or they could expect to win in court, as well as the absolute refusal to provide documentation proving that Getty Images has the legal right to collect on behalf of the artist. Getty will tell letter recipients who make it clear they are willing to negotiate, but are requesting proof of claim, that said proof will only be provided when compelled by a court of law through discovery. In other words letter recipients are told that the information they are requesting will only be provided when they are sued by Getty. This statement is usually followed by another demand for payment with threat of escalation to their legal department if payment is not made. So I say that demanding payment, refusing to provide proof of claim and then threatening legal action qualifies as and meets the definition as a form of extortion.

It is this practice by Getty, McCormack IP Law, Masterfile, Corbis and others that has led me to start Copyright Anti-Bullying Act and attempt to change the current copyright law so it not only protects artist’s rights but closes loopholes and quashes predatory behavior from companies like these.

Breaking Down the Numbers
If you look at the index of complaints the dates that are listed in black represent the seven years yay-9865464prior to the education and letter writing campaign. The dates listed in green are eighteen months of complaints filed after the start of the education and letter writing campaign. You may also click on the headers below to see the complaints displayed graphically on year-at-a-glance calendars.
 
Getty Images:
54 complaints in 7 years prior to campaign
117 complaints in 18 months after campaign
 
McCormack IP Law
3 complaints in 7 years prior to campaign
30 complaints in 18 months after campaign

The list of complaints may be seen here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/222235974/1-2-Index-of-Compaints

At-A-Glance Calendar showing Getty Images complaints from 2005-2013
http://www.scribd.com/doc/222235973/1-3-Getty-Attorney-General-Complaint-History

At-A-Glance Calendar showing McCormack IP Law complaints from 2005-2013
http://www.scribd.com/doc/222235972/1-4-McCormack-Attorney-General-Complaint-History
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 #265 on: May 12, 2014, 02:53:05 PM »
Greg,

You are a special person to go through the time, trouble, and effort it takes to organize and put all this information together.  Thanks for everything you do!

My only question now is, "What will it take for the Washington State Attorney General and the Washington State Bar Association to do something about this?"

Is there some way that we should present Greg's summaries back to the AG and Bar Association so that they cannot claim they missed what is going on?

Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« Reply #266 on: May 12, 2014, 03:35:15 PM »
I don't want to post too much here as we know Getty/McCormack IP Law reads our threads, but there will be follow up on this with the AG's Office.
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 #267 on: October 20, 2014, 10:58:12 PM »
An update on the Freedom of Information Act Request I have in with the SEC in regards to the investigation of CEO Jonathan Klein and top officer backdating stock options when the complaint was public.  I heard from the SEC last week and I am still on the waiting list.  They did say at the outset it could take up to two years to get the reports.  I informed them I am still very much interest in the reports.  I will keep everyone posted as I get updates.
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 #268 on: June 19, 2015, 07:28:14 PM »
I have just sent in my annual request for all the complaints filed against Getty Images and McCormack Law since my last request a year ago.  I will be interested to see how many there are this year.  My guess is there will be fewer since Getty seems to have lowered their demands somewhat and they are hurting in general.

As always I will post my results when I have them.
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 #269 on: January 11, 2017, 12:23:53 AM »
Well, it looks like this thread may have to become active again since it looks like Getty is trying to get into the censorship business.  Getty is sending out C&D letters through the French Law Firm of Cabinet Bouchara-Avocats demanding under French law that blog post, article and sites be taken down because of what is being negatively said about Getty and their business model. 

I have received said letter and have posted my first article on it over on Getty Images Must Change.

http://gettyimagesmustchange.com/site/getty-images-now-trying-to-control-free-speech-and-limit-opinions/
« Last Edit: January 11, 2017, 06:59:56 AM by Matthew Chan »
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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