DBlink,
Technically, you can ignore the letter. The question you (and anyone else getting the letter) is whether you can deal with the consequences. If you ignore it, they will likely keep harassing you about it even if they do not escalate the matter to a collection agency or to a lawsuit. Even if you respond, both could happen also.
As a personal preference, I do not like to ignore these matters because they have a way of sneaking back into your life when you least expect it. Unresolved matters have a way of coming back to haunt you.
But that does not mean you have to play into their hands. I chose to aggressively fight back and defend myself. I was prepared to do what ever it took because I too looked at my own case, situation, and so forth. Even if I had "lost" in court, the other side would have had a very high price to pay.
I am not an attorney but it certainly sounds like you have some grounds for negotiation and a defense. The fact of the matter is Getty has to be selective on who they escalate the matter to. You have to determine whether they will likely come after you. I personally think they have bigger fish to fry than 2 images. But if you choose to ignore them, who knows?
There are certainly no guarantees either way. Some people prefer to avoid and ignore the situation which I have heard works just fine. Others like me have chosen to confront it and it has also worked out also.
Regarding donations, if you do not think the existing written information is helpful enough, you should NOT donate. This is NOT a barter or exchange system where we reply, then get paid money. If that was the arrangement, then we would bill you. I say this because I want to make it clear we choose to respond to any post because we volunteer to do so as time permits.
Our donation system is simply a mechanism for people to voluntarily show their gratitude or for people who simply want to support our cause and help offset our expenses. You either feel strongly enough to do so or you do not. It isn't a crime not to donate. And there is no animosity or badwill if you don't. And you can donate as much, as little as you want, or none at all. You should vote your conscience.
Oscar posts freely here without expectation of payment. He only gets paid if someone chooses to hire him. That is a clear arrangement with specific terms. Even then, Getty cases are not a huge money-maker for him. It is simply a way for him to donate his time to the cause without him having to lose his pants. You have to remember, he generally commands up to $450/hour as a NY attorney. These $150 Getty cases is really peanuts for him. But he knows a lot of people are happy with him and serves a greater good assisting the little guy.
If Oscar never posted again, I think people will still be grateful for all the information we have written posted. We get emails all the time how happy we have all this information freely available to read.
I write and post to this website as time permits but I promise you, I am more motivated by gratitude and goodwill than anything else. If I began to think people were unappreciative or we getting attacked for our efforts, I would take the entire website down and let everyone fend for themselves. It would be no skin of my back because this is nowhere close to my primary line of work or source of income. I have said many times, I would have been fine if I NEVER received a Getty letter and as a consequence, not launched this website.
Quite frankly, there are still times I think about taking down this website. I have mixed feelings about having my name and reputation attached to it. But we appear to be creating a lot of goodwill and so we continue on.
Anyhow, forgive the exposition, I just want to make it clear to everyone that donations are obviously appreciated but that is NOT our primary motivation for the website. But people who do donate, we obviously know who is thanking us and I generally send a thank you email for their consideration.
MatthewC