ExtortionLetterInfo Forums
ELI Forums => Getty Images Letter Forum => Topic started by: Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi) on October 25, 2011, 03:19:23 PM
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Has anybody caught wind of this?? I'm a bit curious..
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/virginia/vawdce/7:2011cv00424/82236/
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This lawsuit is interesting and something I have discussed on this forum previously. It is a declaratory judgment action asking the court to find that the plaintiff's use of the image is NOT an infringement of Getty's copyright. Normally this type of action is brought by a counterclaim in a copyright infringement suit, but it can be used offensively as this one is. One example of this type of case which we have discussed extensively here is Bernina v. imageline where Bernina successfully sued to have a court state that they did not infringe on Imageline's copyrights. I have emailed the plaintiff's lawyer in this case to get information on what happened in the case. The court file indicates it was dismissed voluntarily by the plaintiff on 11-2-11 before Getty even answered which is usually an indication of a settlement. I have long looked for but never found a client willing to pay the $350 to file a federal lawsuit plus legal fees who also had a valid license or claim over the images.
I hope that there isn't too tight a confidentiality agreement on any settlement so that the lawyer can pass on some info (which I can then pass on to this forum)